Ander is just sitting, patiently listening. “After a while, the nurse came back in and escorted me back to my mom. They told us they were having my pediatrician come in to talk to us. We knew she was eight months pregnant and not working anymore, so we knew something was up. We went to the sit in the waiting room. I distinctly remember watching Terminator 2 because I never got to watch anything above a G-rating at home. Finally, my doctor came and we went to a conference room. The only words I remember hearing were “You have cancer”. There was no lead in, no gentle easing into it. It was like a ball thrown at my face. I remember my legs feeling tingly and numb, and then I felt nauseous. I remember feeling the walls close in around me, and the sound of ringing in my ears. They said they couldn’t tell me what kind it was yet, but it was one of two types. Either way, I needed to be at Children’s Hospital at 6 am to start surgery, biopsies, and chemotherapy at the same time. It was the only way I’d have a chance. I remember thinking I was going to lose my hair. Little did I know that hair would become the least of my worries. But on a fourteen-year-old, that was a huge deal. I remember my mom and me heading home, then the entire family crawling into my parent’s bed for a few hours of sleep before the torture began. Happy Mother’s Day. Your daughter is dying.”
I sigh. “When we went to the hospital in the morning, I went in for surgery. I had so much done, as well as starting chemotherapy at the same time, that I did not wake up for a week. When I finally woke up, they told me the tumor had moved my liver into my armpit, apparently pushing everything else out of the way. They took some cancer-ridden organs out. I have no spleen or appendix. They had also taken out part of the liver, but that regenerates, so it’s all there now.” I wink, trying to lighten the mood.
“I did six months of chemo. Most people go home, then return and sit in a room to receive treatment, then go home again. Not me. For the entire six months, I maybe left the hospital for a total of a week. Even when we were home, I was attached to machines, just waiting for something to explode and send me back in. My parents had to learn how to hook up IV’s to feed me and keep me hydrated because I couldn’t keep food and water down. They had to give me so many injections, I would sometimes catch both of them crying. They thought I never saw, never knew. They wanted to appear strong for me. My strong father was reduced to tears more times than I care to remember. He spent the night on the floor of the hospital every single night for those six months. The nurses bought him an egg carton mattress. He showered at the hospital in the doctor’s area, and went to work.
“My mother would show up when he left. She spent every moment of every day with me. She would watch Disney movies, massage my feet, touch my face, and try anything to get me to smile, or at least interact with the world. My dad would come directly from work so my mom could go home to my sister. This went on for six months, and that was just the beginning. The stories I have. Someday, when we need a laugh, I will share them because the worse it got, the more humor was important. Doctors told me that my attitude, that having hope, was the difference between life and death. So I laugh, and I hope. I tried to laugh this week, but I think this has been the only week in my life I couldn’t.
“Can I stop now? That is the basics. It kept coming back, and they did trials and surgeries to stop it. Non-Hodgkins is a bitch. I have an appointment in a few months to check on the growth and make sure I am still in remission, but I would like to have fun and forget about it until then. Can we do that?”
Ander stands up from the table and gently picks me up, holding me close as we walk to his bedroom. “Do you still want me?” he asks. “I know I fucked up and hurt you, but you are so beyond anything I ever expected life to give me. You are a miracle and you are a survivor. You survived for me. Please tell me I didn’t ruin this for us. Brittany is gone. I do have a daughter and I hope to know her, but I also hope she will know you. That is how far gone I am for you, Leire. I want you with me, always. Are we okay?” He is so honest and open, his eyes showing such pain.
Instead of answering, I lift my shirt over my head, tossing it on the floor. His eyes darken and he groans. “You are my life now, Leire. Never leave me again because I will not survive it.”
I look at him. “I cannot promise I will always be here, but while I am alive, I will be with you. I am glad you have a daughter and you are going to get to know her because I cannot have kids. The doctors told me the chemotherapy was too strong, the trials too rough. So I want to know your daughter, too.” He ran his hands over his face, trying not to not tear up.
I reach up for him and pull him down to me. “You and me, Ander. We are starting this now. We are a team and we will get Lola, okay? Together, we can do this.”
And there it is. In one week, I have gone from a single and lonely cancer survivor to a permanent relationship with the most amazing man in the world. Life is just too short. I know it will look strange to outsiders, but to us, with our backgrounds, is makes sense. My heart just may explode.
ANDER
“Leire, before this happens, I need to make sure. I need words. There has never been anyone who has owned me the way you do. I am not ready to say it yet, but know that I am falling for you. You are mine and will always be mine. You hear that? I will never let you leave me. Wherever you are, you are mine.”
I look down at her, tattoo now healed enough that maybe we should discuss working on it again next week. A light pink lace bra is cupping her beautiful chest. I tug the cups down and draw her breast into my mouth. Using just my hands and mouth, she is undulating on the bed beneath me. I reach down and tug the zipper of her linen pants down and gently slide them, along with her panties, down her legs. I may be about control, and Leire, even in the soft moments, gives it to me. I glance up and can see her glistening between her legs and my mouth waters. I kiss both her tight thighs, worshipping their softness. I kiss the scars she so desperately wants to cover up and forget. I love those scars because they gave her to me. I kiss my way up all her curves to her wondrous breasts, then shift her to allow me more space between her thighs. She is completely nude, while I am dressed, but I don’t see an ounce of shame in her eyes. I see trust. She looks at me, completely unguarded, having given me everything she is. Now, I am going to give her everything I am.
My head bends down to her perfect nipple as I reach around and unhook her bra, removing it. I pull her nipple into my mouth, kneading her other breast in my hand. She arches her back, making me engulf her completely. She is so enticing. I release her breast and kiss her mouth voraciously.
Moving between her legs, I lift each luscious ass cheek up, squeezing their perfect weight in my hands. Then I dip my head and taste her. I swipe my tongue through her slit, causing her to arch off the bed. After using every one of my talents on her clit, she is a quivering mass on the bed. When I tell her to come, she shatters and I watch as the most amazing look of perfection crosses her face.
I climb back up to kiss her, letting her taste herself. It is a heady combination of her and me, a taste no one else will ever know. She moves and I can tell what she wants, but I want to hear her say it. I want to hear the dirty words come from her sweet mouth. “What do you want, baby?” I ask.
She blushes. “I want you.”
I laugh. “But what about me do you want?”
“To taste you.”
“To taste me where, sweetheart?”
Finally, with a huge blush, she says, “I want to taste your cock in my mouth. I want to taste your pleasure like you tasted mine.”
“That’s all you needed to say, baby. My cock is all yours.”
She smiles and moves down the bed to take me in her mouth. I know she is good at this, but I have never let her go all the way. She takes my dick in her mouth like it is the best thing she has ever had, licking the pre-cum from the head and moaning. The woman has no gag reflex. She licks around the sensitive head, then down to the area around my ass. My girl is brave. Most women wouldn’t dare go there. I wonder how far she will go. She licks my taint and I li
ft my ass off the bed. Damn, she is out to kill me. Then she moves further down and rims me, causing me to yell. She makes me insane. Her tongue circles my hole and tests the territory inside. At the same time, her hand is using the copious amount of pre-cum I am leaking as lube, giving me a wicked hand job. I am going to lose it fast.
Then she did something I would never expect from my sweet, innocent Leire. She took my cock in her mouth, then I feel her fingers explore my ass and slide in, searching. Bingo. I immediately lose it down her throat. She pulls back to take the final shots on her tongue so she can taste me. Her fingers still working at the gland in my ass has me still shooting…on her face, her chest, more in her mouth.
I finally have to stop her. “Where the fuck did you learn to do that?” I ask, breathless, staring at her covered in my come.
“I read a lot.” Hell, she could spend the rest of her life reading if I got that all the time.
I flip her over. I need to be inside her. “Babe, you mentioned the doctor told you that you couldn’t have kids. I am clean, too. I work at a tattoo shop so we get tested monthly. I can show you the papers. I want to be inside you now, without anything between us. Are you okay with that?” I need to be a part of her.
Before she answers, I lean forward and slide my cock back and forth along her slit, through her wetness. She is fucking soaked. I reach to stimulate her clit and she became even more wet. I ease a finger inside her and she practically flies up off the bed, moaning loudly. “More,” she tells me.
I insert a second finger, followed by a third, scissoring them and preparing her for me. I bring my thumb to her clit and she shatters around me again, squeezing my fingers. I know she is more than ready for this now. “More, Ander. I need you inside me.”
“I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
I look down as I slowly enter her, her flushed pink lips spreading for my hard cock. It is the most amazing sight. “More!” she screams. Suddenly, I am fully seated in her. “Yes…”
She begins to move and I watch as this amazing beauty takes over my cock and uses it for her own pleasure. I think I may have died and gone to heaven. Then, suddenly, it is not enough. I pull almost all the way out, leaving just the tip inside her, and she moans in disappointment. Before she has a chance to complain, I slam back into her, causing her beautiful tits to bounce. I lift her hips, searching for that perfect spot I need as I continue to pound into her. I am pretty sure I will be getting noise complaint letters from my neighbors later, but it’s worth it. She makes an audible moan and I know I’ve hit the spot. “Ander,” she moans, “please stop. It’s too much!” I smile. I love women who have no clue about how orgasms work.
“Beautiful girl, it’s not too much. Go with it. When it feels like you have to pee, press down on me, okay?”
She stops moving and gives me an incredulous look. “You want me to pee on you?”
I laugh. “I’m kinky, but not that kinky. Just go with this, okay? Trust me.”
LEIRE
I stare at him, knowing I can trust him. I nod and he continues his pounding, the bed shaking and hitting the wall. Good thing it is solid. His neighbors have to hate us right now. I look up and notice he has stopped. “Baby, focus on me, okay?”
He starts hitting that odd spot he had found earlier. Somewhere that, before him, I never knew existed. Maybe it hadn’t and it only did because of him. I feel like I am going to pee and he pounds again. Suddenly, I feel like I am seeing stars.
When I open my eyes, Ander is leaning over me, smiling. “Welcome back.”
Frowning at him, I ask, “What?”
“You passed out,” he states, smirking. “For at least a minute.” Damn. He had every reason to smile.
Then I look down and see his entire abdomen is soaked. I put my hands up over my face. “I am so sorry!” I try to get up to get him a towel and start a shower. “I warned you,” I state. “Trust me, you said. Bah. Look where that got you.”
As I start to get out of bed, he quickly moves to grab me around the waist, laughing like a crazy man. “You are really funny. You think I don’t like that you can do that? I will do everything in my power to make sure you do it each and every single time. You are crazy, my beautiful girl. Baby, that is the most precious thing you can give to me and I treasure it. You came so hard, you passed out. I feel like a god. It was beautiful.” He holds me and says, “I will be right back” as he heads to the bathroom where he starts a bath, I am assuming because of the mess I just made.
ANDER
Damn, I have just had two of the most intense orgasms I have ever had, and I am still hard. I am covered in her come. Hot damn, this bath is going to be a damn shame. I catch my reflection in the mirror. Who is that happy man smiling back at me? Oh, yeah. One who has the most gorgeous woman in the world in his bed, and one who knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she is his. I start the bath, then get Leire. After carefully covering her tattoo with waterproof bandages, I place her in the tub and climb in behind her.
“A bubble bath? Really? Isn’t this bad for your…I don’t know…street cred with your tattoo clients?” she asks.
“Street cred? No one says that. And no, I don’t care what anyone thinks about you and me. We are the only ones, along with my daughter, who matter in this relationship.” I smile. “Besides, one look at you and anyone would understand why I am here.”
She smiles at me and settles against my chest. It is quiet and nice. Comfortable. After a while, I grab the shampoo and begin to gently wash her hair, filling the room with a sweet scent and causing her to relax even more. I rinse and begin with the conditioner, massaging her head as I go. She leans her head back on my shoulder, sleepily trusting me. I look down at her. “You are a survivor. My warrior. I know you have been scared of your scars and what they mean, thinking they are reminders of terrible and terrifying events in your life, but you don’t need them to distinguish you anymore. No more pain from them, no more looking at them in fear. Those scars make you who you are. A strong woman who walked into my shop and I haven’t been able to let walk out since.”
I rinse the conditioner from her hair and notice she is nearly asleep. I smell her neck and she moans. “Are you sore?” I ask.
She was so young when she began. Life was supposed to be fun for teenagers. It was a time of first crushes, discovering who you are… Hell, I was already having sex at fourteen. Not good sex, but sex nonetheless. Leire, on the other hand, was going through chemotherapy. What kind of world do we live in where children aren’t given the chance to be a child? Where they are sick, abused, beaten, and tortured? Even my own twin sister’s death seems so small in comparison to the reality of her life. Why have I let myself dwell in anger over this for so long when Leire has had every opportunity and reason to be angry at life and chooses not to? I have done nothing to deserve her and this life. Maybe my life with Brittany was a small version of a struggle, but I have a beautiful daughter out of it. I may not know her yet, but I will soon.
Leire notices my change in mood and turns in my lap, taking my face in her hands, as she often does when she wants to make a point, splashing water on the floor as she moves. “There is nothing, not one thing, you could have done that would have changed anything. You are here now. If my cancer made me who I am, then the same goes for you. Your story is different than mine, but that doesn’t make it any less important or scary. You, as you are now, are perfect for me. That is all that matters.” She leans in and kisses me sweetly, trying her hardest to ease my mind, my heart, my guilt. “And, no, I am not sore,” she answers shyly.
That is all I need to hear before I have her out of the tub and dried off. I gently toss her on the bed and pounce on her, causing her to giggle deliciously. I am going to spend my life trying to hear that sound…and the sounds she makes during sex. “I love your laugh,” I tell her.
She blushes. “I think I sound like a little girl.”
I smile. “I bet that laugh has your English classes packed with male students. I als
o bet that every damn male who has walked into your class walked out a changed man. I bet the theme song for your students on your ratemyprofessor page is ‘Hot For Teacher’ by Van Halen.”
She blinks. “There’s a page called ratemyprofessor? What is that?”
“Silly girl, you’re supposed to be the smart one in this relationship. It is a site where students get on and rant about their terrible professors. I bet yours is all about how they want to get into your pants,” I laugh.
LEIRE
Oh, my god! Is there really such a page? Is he really smirking and starting to go for the computer? “No!” I grab him, pulling him back to the bed. There is no way I want to know what the students really think of me!
“If you won’t let me look, then I am just going to have to go with you to class one day and drop you off. I need to stake my claim,” he states, like I have no say in the matter. Really, do I care? Why do I find it so sexy, and how did we end up back in the bed naked again?
I reach out and grab his cock. “I think I need to claim you.”
I push at him until he rolls over onto his back. I kiss his perfect abs, then move my way up to his nipples, biting them lightly. He arches his back and moans. I reach down and begin to guide him into me. He stops me. “Babe, I know the doctors told you that you couldn’t have kids, but we’ll get you on the pill tomorrow, just in case. Okay?” I nod. I really don’t think there is any concern, but if it’s what he wants, I will do it.
I slowly slide down onto him and begin to rotate my hips in a circular motion, rubbing my clit on his pelvis with every rotation. This is going to be over fast because we are both still primed from that bath. As I move, he grabs my hips and begins thrusting up into me. Between my circling and his thrusting, we both explode quickly.
Lying there, trying to catch my breath, I sleepily say, “I am really falling for you, Ander.”
He reaches over and pulls me into him. “Me, too,” he whispers before his breathing evens out and I know he is asleep.
One More Breath Page 6