by Claire Adams
“Have a seat,” he said, calmly.
“But…” I couldn’t wait to hear his news. Why didn’t he just tell me?
He laughed again. “Daphne, sit down, please.”
I sat. I wasn’t happy about it. I wanted to know what was going on. Right then. I wanted instant gratification so that we could kiss more.
“Let me get through this before you say anything, okay?” I nodded. It was going to be hard, but for him, I would do it. He said, “I’m not a priest any longer.”
My stomach fell as I suddenly thought maybe he was let go, kicked out, ostracized…all because of me. There was a part of me that guiltily celebrated, too. Now we can be together! That’s what the public kiss was about. I kept my mouth shut though, although it was hard as hell.
“I’ve been soul-searching since the night I met you, trying to figure out why I would do what you and I were doing without regard to the fact that I’d taken a vow of celibacy and promised my life to the church. I can to some big conclusions about that.
“Once I did that, I went to the Diocese and I told them that I would step down so they didn’t have to have this big investigation. I also told them that this wasn’t a snap decision. I’ve put a lot of thought into it. I’ve agonized over it and I’ve prayed over it.
“This is what I kept coming back to: being a priest was not my calling. Being a Catholic is completely separate from that and I can still have a relationship with God.”
He paused to take a breath and I opened my mouth. He smiled and held up a finger. I stayed silent as he reached and took my face in his hands.
Leaning in close, he said, “I realized that this was the only decision that would allow me to be happy. I realized that since that first night, I had already chosen you. It’s the right choice, as long as you choose me, too?”
I decided that I didn’t need to speak. I let my lips meet his and we kissed, passionately, speaking without any words; we were talking to each other through our hearts and our souls.
A sense of peace washed over me and although I knew Jace and I would have a lot to figure out, and our lives would never be perfect, we could be happy, as long as we were together.
He kissed the corner of my mouth and then up along the side of my face to my ear. He pressed his lips into me and said, “You take my breath away, Daphne.”
I couldn’t speak. No man had ever told me that. I kissed him again, this time with even more passionately. When he pulled back he let those sexy, intense eyes roam across my body. “Take off your clothes,” he said as he stood up off the couch. “Take them off.” He pulled off his shirt.
The sight of his naked chest got me busy. I pulled off my shirt and as I was tossing it aside I felt him drop to his knees in front of me and pull at the waistband of the shorts and panties I was wearing. He pulled them down to my feet and I lifted my feet so he could pull them all the way off.
Then, I felt the warmth of his hands around my calves. He ran them up my body, pushing me back into the couch as he did. He was suddenly straddling me, looming over me. I could feel his hard erection pushing against his jeans and into the top of my mound. Looking up at him like that was so arousing.
He flexed into me and I shuddered as I felt the fool force of his arousal. He bent down and nipped at the lobe of my ear. God, he’s so sexy and he smells so good. The whole picture had the effect of gasoline being poured on the fire he had constantly smoldering in the pit of my belly.
He pressed his lips into me again, and I felt his warm breath and the vibrations of his voice as he said, “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”
“Yes, but not today,” I breathed out with a grin.
I felt him smile. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered into me before letting his mouth travel from there down the side of my face to my throat.
He left a trail of kisses across my neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake. Then, he kissed and licked his way down my chest, between my already aching breasts.
I arched up into him. I wanted him to suck on my nipples, but he moved on right past them, stopping at the top of my hip. I shuddered and with his mouth still pressed into me he said, “Do you like that, baby?”
“Mm hmm…” I was incapable of rational speech, but I knew this was different than before. Jace was making love to me. All the other times had been satisfying a driving need. Today, we were free to make love like any other couple. I was going to love this.
My back was still arched up off the couch. He slipped one of his big, warm hands underneath me and grabbed one of my cheeks. He let it mold to the palm of his hand and he continued trailing kisses until he got to the bottom of my stomach and the top of my other hip.
I was losing my mind. I slid my hands down and got them underneath his arms and said, “Jace…come here…”
I felt him grin against my flesh again. “Not yet, I’m exploring. Just relax while I play, baby.”
This was definitely a different Jace. I liked it…no…I loved it. He pushed into the couch on either side of me and pulled himself up over me again. My pussy was soaked and tingling. I wanted him inside of me so badly, but I was trying to be patient.
He was straddling me, holding his weight up on his knees as he took my shoulders in his hands and began to massage. It felt so good and his smooth, powerful strokes pulled me forward and worked their way down my back. It was so erotic.
When he reached the small of my back, I felt his mouth on the sensitive flesh of my neck. He bit down lightly, and I struggled to breathe. He’s so sexy. He’s killing me.
He lifted me suddenly and turned me so I was lying back on the couch. I felt him lay down next to me. I looked at him; the beautiful smile was still on his face. I loved his smile. I could feed off of it. “Are you finished exploring? Can we get down to business now?”
He didn’t answer me with words. Instead, he leaned forward again and possessed my mouth in a deep, hungry kiss. Our tongues danced together and I leaned my head back so he could press in deeper.
He sucked on my tongue and let his teeth scrape along the side of it. Reaching one hand under my neck, he held me in place while he moved one leg over me and once again loomed over me, pressing against my hot pussy. He flexed those sexy hips into me again and I groaned. I reached up and traced the hard lines of his chest with my fingers and he flexed into me again.
This time he wrapped his fingers up in my hair and tugged my head back. Then, he shoved his tongue in deeper while he rocked against me, still wearing his pants.
He was making love to my mouth. It was the most incredible, earth-shattering kiss I’d ever had in my life. I think I was already on the brink of my climax and he hadn’t even touched my pussy.
When he finally had to come up for air, he kissed down along the side of my neck again to my chest and finally closed his mouth down over one of my breasts. I gasped as he swept his tongue across my engorged nipple. He reached up and took the other one between his thumb and forefinger and began to twist and roll that one while he sucked on the other.
“You taste so good,” he said against my aching breast and then proceeded to change sides and begin licking and sucking and tasting the other. “I want to taste more,” he said while I writhed underneath him.
I was panting as his fingers made their way between my legs and he touched the spot that was engulfed in flames. He gave it a few light strokes, still teasing, before he pushed himself down on the couch and buried his face between my thighs. My body jerked as I felt his tongue suddenly shoot out and take one, long, sexy lick.
I pushed my hips up into his face and he grabbed them with both hands and held me in place while he probed deeper with his tongue, thrusting it into me as far as it would go and then moving it up to press and lick against my clit. I was out of my mind with pleasure. I wanted to scream.
“Jace,” I said breathlessly, “I’m going to come…”
He stopped. I pulled open my eyes to see him looking at me, grinning again. “Um…I know we’r
e both new to this, but I don’t think that was the cue to stop.”
He laughed and stood up. Then he leaned over to kiss me. Before his lips met mine, I said, “You’re kind of a tease.”
He ran his tongue across the outside of my lips. “I’m done.”
“What? You’re done?”
He laughed again, and I watched as he pulled his pants and shorts down and stepped out of them. “I’m not teasing anymore,” he said. “I need to be inside of you Daphne, now.” His husky voice was even deeper with lust and my boy shuddered at the sound of it.
I reached up for him, and he grabbed my arm by the wrist and put it up over my head. He did the same with the other one and held them there with one of his big hands as he slid into position and entered me.
Fireworks exploded, ticker-tape parades happened, rockets discharged…all inside my head.
The heat of his cock sliding into me where I was already warm and wet was so intense that I cried out, loudly. I wrapped my legs around his hips and pressed my feet into his back.
He wasn’t playing. He slammed into me as deeply as he could, burying himself to the hilt. When he let go of my wrists, my hands went to his hair and I pulled his mouth down for a hot, wet kiss. The harder we kissed, the faster he moved his hips. He was plunging deeper and faster and hitting my hips harder.
The orgasm was building and it threatened to consume me. I called out his name as it boiled to the surface and I exploded. I saw stars as the pleasure coursed through my body.
I opened my eyes and shook my head at him. “You’re incredible.”
With a grin he said, “Have you had enough?”
“No, I want more.” I put my hands on his sexy butt and pushed him into me. “Harder…faster…”
He put his lips against mine and said, “You drive me crazy, baby.”
I was still writhing underneath him and the feel of his mouth and his words drove me back into frenzy. I began bucking my hips, and our kisses were wet and sloppy. He moved his hips to the side and hit that spot that I’ve heard people talk about.
I think I let out a scream right into his mouth as I came again. That orgasm was unexpected, and I even dug my fingernails into his back.
He didn’t complain. He sucked my tongue into his mouth and didn’t miss a beat. He kept going, stroking in and out, kissing me, sucking on my lips and tongue, telling me I was beautiful until I suddenly heard him grunt, and then groan and then I felt him tense and just before he released he said, “Daphne!”
He fell shaking into me and I held him there. I didn’t want him to move…ever. I didn’t want to breathe. He was my air. He was all that I needed. I knew that with everything in me.
CHAPTER FOURTY-EIGHT
TWO YEARS LATER
JACE
“Aw, look, Jace has a little heart-shaped note in his lunch box…isn’t that sweet.” I felt myself blush. Daphne insists on packing my lunch every day, which I love. But I usually check it for the notes before I open it in front of the other guys.
I’m not ashamed of her…completely to the contrary. But, working in construction, you have to have a little bit of a hard edge. Pink, heart-shaped sticky notes kind of blow that out of the water.
“You’re just jealous, Craig. I’m sorry that nobody loves you enough to send you a heart-shaped note in your lunch.”
“I’ll give you one for that ham sandwich,” Mike said to Craig.
“It would take a lot more than a sticky note for you to get your hands on my ham.” Mike and I were laughing before Craig realized how that sounded. “Aw, screw you guys!” He turned his back to us and started eating his lunch. Mike looked up at me again and said,
“Did you get that raise?”
“I got it. It’s my two year increase. It’ll help a lot with the new house and everything.”
Mike nodded. “My raises would help if I could get the wife to stop having kids. That Catholic stuff is okay, but I really wish the Pope would approve birth control. She told me yesterday she’s pregnant again.”
Craig still had his back to us, but I saw his shoulders shake. “What’s up with you?” Mike asked him.
“How many is that, nine?”
“Shut up,” Mike said. “It’s six.”
“And, you haven’t made a boy yet?”
“This one’s gonna be a boy, I can feel it.”
“That’s what you said about the last two.”
Mike shrugged. “Oh well, if this one ain’t, she’ll probably try for ten more.”
“You could stop having sex, you know. That would stop the production of children.”
“Fuck that,” Mike said. We laughed.
I thought about how different my life was now from two years ago. The only men I had in my life then were my brothers and other priests. I didn’t realize how much fun it was to stand around like this and just talk and laugh like one of the guys. That’s all I am here.
Max had got me the job. I used to work construction when I was in high school and he had a client with a construction firm starting a new project in the city. It was perfect for me, and I took it as another sign that I was making the right move.
Ryan had only rolled his eyes at me when he heard I’d gone through with leaving the church. I think he was just worried about me, but now, two years later, even he has to admit that I did the right thing.
“When are you gonna have some, Jace?”
“I think we’re going to wait for a bit. We just got married a month ago, you know.”
“Yeah, we were there,” Craig said. “That little wife of yours is…”
“Don’t say it,” I told him with a warning look.
“What?” he said, trying to look innocent. “I was just going to say she’s a nice gal.”
“Yeah, right.” He laughed his lecherous laugh. I wasn’t really offended. Craig talked about his wife all the time. He was crazy about her. He just liked to give me a hard time.
After lunch, we went back to work for another four hours. I was operating the crane today. The building was an old church, and we were refurbishing it.
None of the guys here know about my past as a priest, but the first day we were on the job, Craig caught me staring up at the cross at the top of the old brick building. There must have been reverence in my eyes because after that he called me Father Jace. I had to laugh at that.
When the day was over, I gathered my things, climbed in my pick-up and went home…to the woman and the life I loved.
CHAPTER FOURTY-NINE
DAPHNE
“I think I like this one the best,” Carla said, holding up one of my and Jace’s wedding photos. I took it from her hand and looked at it. It was one with her in the background, making a face. I laughed and tossed it back at her.
“I’m looking for one to have framed and hung over my new mantle.”
“I know, I think that one is perfect,” she said with a wink.
“I think we’ll keep looking,” I told her with a smile.
I looked around my and Jace’s new house and sighed contentedly. I love him so much. I love our house. I love our life.
We got married down at Columbus Park under the lit arbor just as the sun was going down. The photos all have the harbor and the glorious sunset in the background. It’s like the day was designed just for us. I knew that’s an entirely narcissistic view, but on this point, I didn’t care.
I was brought back to the present by my oh-so-direct friend. “So, when are you going to start popping out kids?”
I laughed. “We’ve only been married for a month. Slow down there, skippy.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been doing the nasty for two years. Come on, you’re behind. I’ll be a fabulous auntie.”
“I’m sure you will be, as long as you don’t say things like ‘doing the nasty’ in front of my child.”
She was crazy, but I loved her. She went on to say, “Maybe you two aren’t doing it right. Is Jace ramming that hard…”
“Carla!” I stopped
her there. I love her, but I didn’t want to discuss my husband’s hard anything with her. My face was bright red, I could feel it.
She laughed. “You still blush like a school girl every time I mention sex. You need to read some trashy novels, get some ideas. You two are probably still doing it missionary, aren’t you?”
With a giggle, I said, “Trust me, we have plenty of our own ideas.”
“Oh, really? Tell me more. Have you done it all over the new house yet? Does Jace like doing it doggy style?”
“Carla! Stop,” I was laughing. Jace and I had no problems in the bedroom. As a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite. Some days we did it like rabbits all over the house and, yes, in different positions.
I was still not comfortable talking about it, though, and Carla knew that. She loves to tease me. She likes to call us “The virgin duo.” Little did she know, there was nothing virginal left about either of us.
“Here it is,” she said, suddenly. She was holding another photo from the pile of wedding pictures. When she handed it to me, I saw that this time, she wasn’t kidding.
Jace and I were facing each other holding hands. The water from the river could be seen in the background and the sun was glinting off of it as it lowered, casting a golden glow around us both. That was beautiful, but even more so was the look in our eyes as we stared at each other. It was going to look perfect above the mantle.
“I love it!”
“Yeah, me, too,” she said. It was the first serious thing she’d said in twenty minutes. “You know after you have kids you’ll have to take it down, though, right?”
“Why?”
“Please, you’ll have so many pictures of the kid, you won’t have room to hang your own. Just think about how gorgeous that kid will be with the two of you as parents.”
I smiled and tried to picture our baby. I hoped he looks just like Jace.
“Yeah, I bet he will be a looker,” I said.
“He?”
“I just think since Jace has two brothers, maybe the boy thing runs in his family.”