by Lauren Wood
“I don’t know what to say Cal.”
“Just tell me that you want to be together.”
“I do, but you don’t know everything.”
“I think I do.”
“Really?”
Mariss was a little red-faced and her eyes had a red rim around them because she was upset about what I said. I don’t know what sort of emotions were running through her.
“I think so.”
“Well, say it then. I want to hear you say it out loud.”
“You’re pregnant.”
She gasped. “How did you know?”
“Do you know how much attention I pay to your body Mariss? Surely you can understand that I keep my eyes on you always. That little bit of a bump that you have under your shirt was noticed as soon as you got in the truck. I don’t know why you were so antsy earlier, but I noticed. I notice everything about you. Is that what has been bothering you?”
Mariss nodded her head and said that it was. “I didn’t know what was going to happen and how you were going to react to it. I didn’t know if you would be mad, or if you would care. I wasn’t ready for you yet.”
“Are you ready for me now?”
We were pulling up in front of my house and she looked out the window. I was going to take it as she wasn’t, but I hoped that it changed as the night went on. I don’t know how it was going to turn out and I’d learned with Mariss, there was no use even trying to assume that a situation was going to go one way or another. I knew that I loved her though and I was going to make sure that this time she would see that I loved her, and I was going to make it work. If that didn’t do the trick, then I would find another way. Jesse was right. No matter how hard it was to win her back, it was going to be worth it.
“Are we here?”
I grinned and nodded my head. I wanted her to see where I lived and see that she’d been apart of my life, even when she was gone, taking off. I’d had only one picture of her, but there was other bits and pieces that she’d left with me. I’d kept them all these years and I finally wanted to show her. She was unsure of if we were supposed to be together. I wanted to show her that I’d known for a long time that we were meant to be together. I’d known since the moment that I saw her across the crowded room that she was to be mine forever.
“Come on. It’s getting cold out here.”
“It feels good. I’m burning up.”
“I have air conditioning in the house. We can make it like the Artic if you want.”
“You have no idea what you are getting yourself into.”
“I think I do.”
She followed me in and I was already feeling lighter. I don’t know why, but having her here, knowing how we both felt without all the bullshit background noise. I knew now that she was carrying my child. I didn’t even have to ask. I knew it was mine. I knew that she’d been as uninterested in others as I was. All the things I knew, I just knew because I was so sure of how it was all going to end.
She wasn’t joking about the temperature. She turned the air conditioner temperature way down and then smiled at me. It wasn’t long before we were heating up the place and it went down even further. It started to feel like the Artic, literally.
Epilogue
Mariss
* * *
“She’s asleep. If you don’t stop looking at her, I swear she is going to wake up from you staring.”
Cal moved back, but I could tell that he didn’t want to. So much had changed and Ophelia Laverne coming into the world was the biggest one of all. She made Cal a different person and it was only good changes. He was more attentive to both of us and he was treating me like a Queen.
“I don’t mean to, but she is just so cute.”
I agreed with him, but I wanted time to ourselves. Our daughter was asleep, and it seemed right that we had some time to spend together. The last few weeks went by in a blur, one day going into the next. Now we were getting a little more sleep and I had more on my mind than babies.
Pulling him into the living room, he asked me what I was doing. “I’m taking you away for a little while. The monitor is on.”
He didn’t get it yet and I kept tugging him towards the shower.
“What are we doing?”
“You’re going to wash my back.”
“Oh, okay. I told you that I should have gotten you that long loofah at that store in the mall. It would help you get your back and anywhere else that’s hard to reach.”
“Why would I need that when I have you?”
We were in the bathroom and I shut the door behind us. He was still going on about a damn loofah and I had to stop him. He just wasn’t getting it. Loofahs was the last thing on my mind. I wanted a shower, but I wanted one to get dirty, not to get clean.
I started to take my clothes off and about the time I was taking my top off, I could see that it was all finally clicking in his head.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking a shower. You coming?”
He nodded his head, but his eyes were on my engorged tits and I had to laugh. He never said anything about them, but he sure did look at them a lot. It didn’t matter what I was doing, if Cal was in the room, his eyes were usually on my chest. He didn’t even try to hide it, telling me that I was his and he could look whenever he wanted. Cal really used that excuse a lot because I caught him looking a whole lot.
“Yes.”
The hot water had me in the mood far quicker than it should have. It had been a long time and I was ready to get back to the other things that we used to do to entertain ourselves.
I started to soap up the washcloth and I handed it to him to start washing my back. He did my neck and shoulders, moving down my body and hesitating for only a few moments before he went over my ass.
I turned around when he was finished with my backside and his eyes took me in.
“You can touch them if you want to. You don’t have to just look.”
“Are you sure?”
I grinned at him and laughed a little bit. He was so worried about something happening. I don’t know why, but I found it so endearing. He’d been treating me like I was going to break with the slightest bump. I wasn’t. I was made of sturdier stuff and I needed his hands back on me. It’d been too long, and the date was marked on the calendar. Today was that day.
His hands came out and started to massage my tits. I groaned and closed my eyes. He used the wash cloth for a few minutes to soap me up, but before rinsing me off, his fingers started to slip and slide on my skin. It was a nice feeling and I couldn’t help but anticipate more to come. I was already shaking with desire, just that quickly.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?”
“Yes Cal. If you don’t do it soon, I’m going to explode.”
“But…”
I pressed my finger to his lips and lifted one leg onto the side of the shower. I wanted to feel his touch there and I was short on words. I was past the point of reason.
“No buts Cal, just make me feel good. You know what I need. You’re the only one.”
* * *
THE END
One Last Time
Blurb
* * *
Matt, my first true love, was more than just a boyfriend.
He was skilled in pleasure and he’d played my body like a fiddle.
It was perfect, and I was sure for a time that it would never end.
A love like ours would withstand the test of time.
But it hadn’t and when he left school, I never saw him again.
Life brings us back together and I know this time, it’s right.
* * *
Tracking Matt down was a slow decision.
I dreamed about him and couldn’t get him off my mind.
When I saw him again, every feeling was back with a force.
* * *
The military has made Matt harder.
With his hard body in that uniform
And that mischievously look
in his eyes.
It just made me want him more.
I was running on his whim.
* * *
We only had one night, and I was going to make it worth it.
* * *
***
Prologue
Anna
* * *
“What do you want to do tonight?”
Matt’s answer was always much of the same. He didn’t even have to say it out loud because I already knew what was on his mind. The look that he gave me was enough of an answer. I knew what he wanted, and I just waved him off. “That can’t be the destination Matt. That’s just part of the journey. What are we going to do tonight?”
“You know I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about when you talk all mystical like that. Destination, journey, I don’t care what you call it, I just want in you.”
I grinned, unable to help myself and then asked him again. It was the age-old question and while I wanted to go out to the beach and swim naked, he was talking about going to a house that he said was haunted. It wasn’t what I had in mind, but it had to be better than doing nothing all night.
“Do you really think that it’s haunted?”
I didn’t believe in that sort of thing, but it was hard to deny the appeal. It was something different and it was a good place to try something new. Matt was always down for something like that and it was something he’d do with his buddies. I wanted us to go and see what happened. I was always safe if he was by my side, so I wasn’t too worried about it.
“Okay.”
“Well there is a bet that no one can stay there overnight, so I think we should camp out.”
It didn’t sound like something I’d do, so maybe that’s why I made sure that we did it. I never wanted to be pushed into a rut. It was hard to pretend that college life wasn’t going by fast and it made me think that these moments were the ones that I was going to remember later. I didn’t want to only have memories of saying no. Besides, if Matt was there, it would always lead to sex and he wasn’t the only one that was in the mood for that. I was always in the mood for it. It was the perfect ending to any night.
“Fine, we will grab a sleeping bag from the dorm and then we’ll go from there. I’m not worried about ghosts, but it’s been getting cold lately. What do we get if we stay all night?”
“Bragging rights.”
I just shook my head because that was only a reward to a man. Women didn’t care that much about staying in a haunted house. It wasn’t going to make me look any cooler.
We agreed to grab a few things out of my room like drinks and blankets before we set out in his truck. He told me the story of how the house was way out in the woods. It used to be home to a family that was slaughtered as they slept from some deranged person that had escaped out of the mental institution not far down the road. I knew it was all crap, but the way he told the story drew me in and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a sliver of truth. The truth was always somewhere under the surface in every great story.
“So, what happened to the crazy guy?”
“He wasn’t seen again for a couple of years. He’s supposed to watch the house. Some say that he’s alive and some say that he’s dead and his ghost watches it, waiting for his next unsuspecting victims to come.”
“Really, that’s all you got?”
Matt shrugged. “That’s what I hear. If nothing else, it’s a good place to fuck.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “What makes you think that you’re going to get any of that?”
“Because you’re you.”
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer me, but his hand went down my shorts and into my panties before I could say much of anything. I gasped as his fingers pushed between my lips and inside of me. His digit slipped in without anything to stop it and I closed my eyes to the pleasure. He just felt so damn good. I forgot why his hand was down there until he spoke up. I was too worried feeling it, to really think of anything else.
“You are always wet and always ready. So, fucking hot…”
His voice trailed off and I pushed his hand away. “Get off me trying to prove a point. I’m getting all hot and bothered and you’re just messing with me.”
“I was the one that wanted to stay home and see how many times I could make you come.”
His words reminded me that I was the one that wanted more, but it was hard to think of much else after what he just did. I don’t know what it was about Matt, but now I couldn’t think straight, and I was having to push my thighs together. The action just brought on more feelings of need and I groaned out loud.
“Why did you have to do that?”
“Are you ready to pull over?”
“No, we’re going to the haunted house. Remember?”
He didn’t look so happy with my decision, but I wasn’t so happy about it either. It was like he was toying with me. I wanted to talk about what came next. This was his last year because he was ahead of me one and that meant that he was going to be leaving soon. I’d tried to get him to talk about it before, but he was very good at using sex to sidetrack me. It worked most of the time and it worked preventatively this time.
“We’re almost there. I just thought you might want to stop for a little bit of time and see what happens. I can tell how ready you are.”
“Like you said. I’m always ready so I can wait.”
He growled at me and I smiled back at him. Matt didn’t like his words getting used against him, so I made sure to do it as much as possible.
The car stopped not too long after that and we sat outside of the trail that was supposed to lead us to this house. I don’t know what it was doing up here, but it was probably some hermits at one time and now it was just a party house. Either way, it would be good to do something different.
The air was colder when I got out of the low-lying truck and I looked up at the dark trail. It was creepy enough without the bullshit stories and I wouldn’t be caught dead walking up there if he wasn’t with me. Matt was going to keep me safe in a place that didn’t feel that way.
I heard something in the distance and I asked him about it, but he just started chuckling. “You’re not going to be able to freak me out Anna. It was one movie and that was a long time ago.”
“It wasn’t that scary, and it was last month.”
I could see the expression on his face and it made me giggle a little more. Why was I provoking him when I knew I was the one that was freaked out more out of the two of us? I didn’t like the idea of ghosts, let alone being in a house that was supposed to be inhabited by them. I didn’t like to be scared either, so to say that I wasn’t looking forward to this was an understatement. It was fine back when it was just talk, but now that we are here, I don’t know, I was kind of nervous.
He took my hand and told me everything was going to be okay.
“I know. It’s just kind of creepy here, that’s all. I don’t like going in the woods like this. I don’t know anyone that does.”
Matt didn’t say anything else which I was thankful for because it would most likely be making fun of me. I know that I wasn’t supposed to believe in all of that and I didn’t, it’s just…
A twig snapped next to my side of the trail and I jumped about a mile, landing in his arms and Matt thought it was hilarious.
“It’s just a racoon or something Anna. You got to chill out. You’re making this way too easy.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I was just trying to calm myself like he said to. This was certainly not my element and it was hard to say what was going on. Why did I feel so jumpy?
When we got to the house, I looked up at the sagging roof and there was a spot in it that might have a hole. I couldn’t see all that well because it was so dark out, the moon the only light and a shiver ran through me. This was where he wanted to stay the night? I asked him, and he grinned. Why was this knucklehead looking excited to do this? I just didn’t understand it and
I was quick to try and get my mind right. He was just messing with me. That’s all this was.
“Do you really want to do this?”
“Only if you want to.”
I agreed, but something was bothering me. This place was creeping me out far more than I thought it was going to. But there was no backing out now. I’d agreed to it and now I was going to be forced to stick it out.
Matt
She was eating it up, hook, line and sinker and for some reason, I liked to see her a little scared. She would never admit it, but Anna was too serious sometimes. It came in waves and this just seemed like the thing that would get her out of her element. I had wanted to just stay in bed, it was my preferred thing to do when I was with her, but it just wasn’t in the cards this time.
Now we were going through the door and she pushed me ahead of her like I was going to shield her from the monsters. It was the cutest thing ever and I tried to suppress a laugh. I was finding this far too funny for her liking.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go back and see what happens at the dorm?”
She said no. “I said we should come, so I can’t back out now.”
I knew that she wanted to, but she was far more stubborn than she was horny. I had to turn this around soon because her readiness had triggered my own and I was trying to hold it together.
I set up the sleeping bag and she helped me. I was sure that Anna was just helping to stay close and I figured that was how I was going to use this to my advantage. If she was too scared to roam around without me, all I had to do was park it in the sleeping bag and she would come to me. This night was looking better by the minute.