by Lisa Shelby
I turn my body toward her and she has to move her legs off of me. She tucks them underneath her and we’re both facing each other now. I need to see her eyes for this.
“Gracie . . . do you only want this to last two more days?”
Silence. She just stares at me. She doesn’t say a word. God, she makes this all so damn hard.
“Because I want more . . . lots more. I don’t want just another damn week, Em. I want endless weeks. I don’t think I can take another week that just ends . . .”
More silence.
Could I really be alone in this? Am I the only one of us that wants more?
Still without a word, she climbs onto my lap. She looks me in the eyes and then slowly closes hers when she softly brings her lips up to caress mine. After several minutes of her kisses and her rubbing herself on my—growing harder by the minute—cock, I can’t take it any longer and I stand up with her attached to me. Her legs naturally come around my waist and I carry her to the bedroom. It’s not the answer I was looking for, but I’ll take it . . . for now.
I’m dreaming about the morning in California when Emily woke me with a special wakeup call. Only in this dream it isn’t her hand that’s waking me up, but that sweet little mouth of hers. Fuck, if this isn’t the best dream I’ve ever had. It feels so real that I feel myself growing harder and harder until I slightly wake and move my hand down to try to adjust myself, but I’m met with a road block. An amazing road block, one in the form of Emily’s beautiful head while she takes me into her mouth.
When she realizes I’m now fully awake she pops me from her mouth and gets a devilish smile on her face and says, “Morning, Georgia.”
“Morning, baby. Whatcha doin’?” I ask not able to hide my smile.
“Just wanted to give you something to think about while I’m at work today.”
“Oh baby, I’m always thinking about you. You don’t have to do this.”
“Trust me I do. I was dreaming about tasting you, and I need to have you in my mouth. Now sit back and let me enjoy this.”
With that she wakes me up in the most glorious of ways, and starts my day off with a fucking bang.
I spend the rest of my morning floating around them as they rush to get ready. I help with breakfast and taking care of the dogs. I love feeling the organized chaos of their morning routine. I’m learning to love all of the domestic routines that come with these two lovely little ladies. It’s a feeling and a routine I never knew I wanted, but I do and I hate that it’s about to end.
Not A Bad Thing
Emily
It’s Friday, our last full day and night together before Mick comes home. I’m sitting in my classroom impatiently watching the seconds tick by so that I can get out the door to Jonathan. The last two days have been so great. Last night was another night of exploring each other for hours and lounging in each other’s arms. He didn’t bring up the discussion of our status again. Instead, he peppered my body in kisses and brought me to amazing highs over and over and over again.
I think the clock has frozen in time, because the bell just will not ring. How can this class not be over yet? I already have all of my things gathered and am ready to bail the moment I hear the shrill sound of class being over. I feel like a senior on the last day of school; counting down the last seconds of high school and then cheering as the clock strikes that golden hour.
No cheering today, but I do bolt the moment the bell sounds and nearly run over Officer Blackburn. He has a hard time keeping up with me as I navigate down the hall. The kids are just sauntering about, without a care in the world. Not caring at all that I have only a matter of hours left to spend in fake domestic bliss with Jonathan. In my mind, I shove past them all and they go sprawling to the ground as I make my way through the halls and to the doors. I’m clearly losing it, but I don’t care. I cannot get out of this building and out the front doors fast enough.
With Officer Blackburn only steps behind me, I finally push my way out to the front doors with a little wave to him over my shoulder and I scan the parking lot for Jonathan’s truck. I don’t see it. Where is he? I feel my heart start to sink and wonder if he forgot to pick me up?
Walking down the steps, I hear a car horn and see him pulling up in Matt’s jeep. Our jeep. My heart skips a beat and I freeze mid-step. It’s only when I see him jump out and walk around to open the passenger side door for me that I move my feet in his direction.
“How?”
“Later, baby,” he says stealing a quick kiss.
I get into the car and so many memories start flashing back through my mind. I also notice, as he walks around the front of the jeep, that he isn’t in his usual t-shirt attire. He has on a white button down shirt with rolled sleeves, dark jeans and not his usual heavy boot, but more of a dress shoe. What is happening here?
He hops back into Scarlett and gives me a wink and a smile. As I’m about to ask where Ireland is, he explains that she’s with Cami and that we’re in no rush today.
“Where are we going?”
In reply to my question, he just smiles and turns on the stereo and Justin Timberlake comes blaring out of speakers just like the last time we were in Scarlett.
For October, it’s a beautiful day but not warm enough to take the top down on the jeep. Jonathan holds my hand the entire journey but doesn’t say much. I cannot figure out what he’s up to just yet, but I have a feeling I will soon enough. He seems so pleased with himself right now, and it’s kind of cute. I don’t want to ruin anything for him so I don’t ask too many questions.
It’s mid-day, so the traffic is light, and in a little over thirty minutes we’re over the bridge and in Vancouver. As Jonathan navigates through the streets he finally speaks.
“Here we are.”
I pull my eyes from his devastatingly handsome face and look to see that he’s pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant called Beaches. I get it now . . . Scarlett . . . JT on the stereo . . . he’s wearing almost exactly what he wore the night we went to dinner . . . and now a restaurant called Beaches. He’s trying to recreate our time in California. Shit, he’s good.
“I know it’s not the actual beach, but I didn’t know if you would want to be that far away from Ireland, so I figured we could fake it. It’s not the fanciest restaurant, but the beach reminds me of you. I thought it was fitting.”
“Jonathan, it’s perfect,” I lean across the front of the jeep, and give him a quick kiss on the cheek before I reach for my door handle.
“Wait! I’ll get it!” He says, almost sounding panicked.
Wow, chivalry really isn’t dead. He runs around the front of Scarlett and opens my door for me. This service includes a little bow to go along with the hand he’s holding out to me.
“Milady.”
With a little giggle, I take his hand, thank him and hop out. As we walk towards the door of the restaurant, I can’t help but look over my shoulder at Scarlett and say, “It sure is good to see her.”
Jonathan gives my hand a squeeze and leads me into the restaurant. They have our table ready for us, and we’re led to our window seat with a gorgeous view of the Columbia River. The restaurant is fairly casual and decked out with a beach theme complete with starfish and seashells for decoration. It’s a cute place, and I’ve never been here, so I can’t help the smile that’s on my face as we take our seats.
Lunch is great, but not anything like the dinner we had at Carbonara’s in California. But who cares? I can’t believe he’s doing all of this to set the mood and take us back to when we met. If only he knew that our time together is forever etched into my memory. I don’t need any reminders. I could never forget our time together. But I do love that he’s gone to so much trouble, and I’m having a great time.
When our server comes back he offers us a dessert menu, but Jonathan says no thank you and that we have other plans.
We do? What in the world is he up to?
After lunch he takes my hand, and we walk out of the p
arking lot and down the street. It’s a cute little street, lined with little shops on the street level and condos above. I can’t imagine how great those views must be with the river and the mountains in the distance. As we walk past the store fronts, the wind is starting to pick up a bit so he wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him. I put my arm around his waist and we cuddle tight to one another. I’m sure we look like one of those annoyingly in love couples that have always made me a little sick. I think I get it now because this doesn’t feel sick at all.
Soon he’s opening the door to a small ice cream shop, and when I look up at him he just gives me a wink. I start to look at the list of flavors when I hear Jonathan order a chocolate cone and a vanilla caramel swirl cone. I spin around to look at him with my mouth hanging open. He has a smart ass ‘yep, that just happened’ grin on his face. A grin that also says, oh yes, I thought of everything. They aren’t the same desserts we had in California, but they are the same flavors, and he knows exactly what he’s doing.
He pays for our cones, hands me mine and leads me to the door. When we leave the shop and start to head back to the Beaches parking lot the wind is howling and it’s even colder. The ice cream certainly isn’t helping things. We jog as quickly as we can without losing our ice cream, and find sanctuary inside Scarlett.
I can see the disappointment on his face when he says, “I had planned on taking you for a walk down along the water, but we can just eat these in here if that works for you?”
“Of course, this is all so great, Jonathan. Thank you so much for everything. This was so thoughtful of you.”
“My pleasure, baby,” he says and a smirk pulls up on one side of his mouth and I can tell he has another question for me. “You still don’t like chocolate ice cream, huh?”
“Nope.”
He angles his body so that he’s leaning against the jeep door and I do the same so that we’re facing each other.
“Really? I have this memory of you saying that it wasn’t so bad once? Am I not remembering correctly?”
He’s trying to embarrass me. He thinks the memory of me kissing him, after he made a mess of me, with his precious chocolate ice cream, is something I would be embarrassed of. It’s not embarrassing . . . it’s actually a very fond memory. One I have thought about many times over the years.
“No, your memory serves you correctly, but I was not of sound mind at the time. Doesn’t count,” I say unfazed and take another lick of my cone.
Still trying to embarrass me he tries again. “And what was it that caused you to not be of sound mind at that particular moment?” I know that he thinks I will turn a thousand shades of red and turn shy at his question, but I don’t feel shy around him anymore. In fact, nobody makes me feel more myself than he does.
“You, Georgia. You had just given me one of the best orgasms of my life and I was a bit incoherent. Is that what you’re looking for? Confirmation that you rocked my world that night? I think you know you did?”
He takes a lick of his ice cream, and then leans over to me, pulls me to him and gives me my first real kiss since he picked me up from work. Once again, I can taste the offending chocolate ice cream, but mixed with the taste of him and his expert tongue, it’s more than tolerable. “How about now?” He asks, as he pulls away and leans back against the door looking oh so proud of himself.
I shrug my shoulders and reply. “It was okay. Not too bad.”
“I guess I’ll have to rock your world later and ask you again.”
He sounds determined.
“I guess you will.”
I can’t wait!
We’re both finishing our cones and he explains that he has another spot to take me to. As we drive along the river, the view just gets better and better. It feels so good to be alone with him. I love Ireland, but it’s great to just focus on each other and not worry about what we say or do in front of her. This is some much needed adult time for me and I’m sure for Jonathan too. This kid thing is brand new for him.
A short time later, Jonathan pulls down a little road that leads down to the river’s edge where there is a No Trespassing sign posted. He assures me we are fine, and that he cleared it with a friend that works for Vancouver Police as he puts the jeep in park.
We sit in silence for what seems like forever, but I can tell that he’s working his way up to talk about something. By the way he’s rubbing circles on the back of my hand, and the fact that the pace has picked up, he almost seems panicked. I can tell this isn’t going to be an easy conversation, so I give his hand a squeeze, and he starts to speak.
“We lost Matt about three months into our tour in Afghanistan.”
He takes a second to collect himself. I take the time as well. I know he doesn’t ever talk about what happened with Matt to anybody, not even Devon. This is a big deal for him. I just wait and let him know that I’m here for him by putting my hand on top of his. I lightly rub my fingers back and forth over the back of his hand to try and help calm him. Eventually he’s ready, and starts again with his voice low.
“We lost Matt about three months into our tour in Afghanistan. We were on a mission in the Helmund Province when we were attacked. We got out of our Humvee and within our first few steps away from our vehicles, we were under fire. The first shot that we heard hit Matt, and he was gone instantly. He was standing two feet in front of me, and I watched him take the hit and then fall to the ground. I had grabbed him before he hit the ground and I pulled him back to the Humvee, but he was already gone. His damn helmet was too big. He hated to tighten it too tight, so it was tipped back and he was shot right here.” He points to the low part of the center of his forehead while looking out the windshield. “I see that moment in my day dreams and in my nightmares. It’s always with me.”
I have no idea what to say to that so I just say, “It wasn’t your fault, Jonathan.”
Still looking straight ahead out the windshield he replies to my useless comment.
“But it was, Em. I was his squad leader and I led him into harm’s way. I know that I was just following orders, but I had a bad feeling that day. I should have listened to my gut and done things differently, and maybe he would still be here driving Scarlett instead of me. You know when his parents were in California visiting him that week, he had written them a letter in case anything happened to him. And in that fucking letter he said that he wanted me to have Scarlett. Can you believe that shit? He left me his pride and joy. This is the first time I’ve had her out of my garage. It was just too hard before.”
He finally brings his shining eyes to mine and says, “My mom, Em . . .”
I reach up and cup his cheek in my hand and rub my thumb back and forth to try to soothe him. I don’t know what else to do. I just want to take away his pain. To think I was part of his pain during the toughest part of his life is almost too much for me to live with.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I wish I had been there for you. You went through so much. I wish I could take your pain away for you.”
He takes my hand from his face and holds it in his lap, and stares at me for what seems like an eternity. I hold his gaze, letting him know I’m here for him now, and I see him take a deep breath and then exhale. He opens his mouth to speak, but then he closes it as if he’s changed his mind.
“It’s okay Jonathan, you can tell me anything. If you want to tell me how shitty I was for not telling you the truth, and giving you a chance so that I could be there to help you through it all, then do it. I deserve it.”
He shakes his head and looks down at our hands in his lap. On a quiet breath he says, “You did get me through it. Just knowing you were out there somewhere, and that there was something as good as you still out in the world stopped me from giving up. I would lay awake at night and recount all of my memories of our time together. That would be the only way I could close my eyes without seeing the nightmare of Matt getting shot, and watching them lower my mom into the ground. I know it sounds crazy, but you did get me
through all of it, and I think deep down I knew I would see you again. Knowing in my heart that I would see you again was what kept me from going further into the hole I was in. I always told myself to think about accidentally running into you one day, and how much of a mess would I want you to see me in. I’m functioning because of the hope I had of seeing you again.”
I’m stunned silent at his confession. He lifts his head and his eyes connect with mine again. He brings our interlaced hands up and kisses the back of mine before setting it back down.
“You know if it wasn’t for my mom, I wouldn’t have met you,” he confesses with a half-hearted smile.
“What?” I ask confused.
“Yep, my mom knew she was sick when I went home that week before I met you. She was starting her chemo and didn’t want me there or to know that she was sick. She told me she wanted me to go back to Cali with the guys and to have fun for her since she had to go back to work. She changed my flight without telling me, and acted like it was a gift she was giving me. I was so mad when I found out that she already knew, and that I was there with her and she never told me. She sent me away instead of letting me be there to help take care of her, like I should have. I had so much fucking anger and resentment towards her, until Liam pointed out that she didn’t just send me away, but she sent me to you. That’s how I was able to forgive her. I’m not saying that if I had known I was going to meet you, I still wouldn’t have picked staying home with my mom to take care of her, but I wasn’t given the chance to pick. My mom chose for me.”
“Jonathan . . .”
“No, let me finish. I’m not angry anymore because I figured something out. All my mom wanted was for me to be happy. She got to talk to me more than once that week that I was with you. She got to hear me happier than I had ever been. You and me, baby, we brought her happiness that week. I never did tell her that we weren’t going to try the long distance thing because she was so happy that I had found ‘the one’. I wasn’t ready to burst her bubble, so I let her think we were still talking when I left.”