by Maggie Way
“Kiss me,” she said.
Chapter Two
Outside the Tool Shed
September 11, 2001
1:00 AM
Jolene moaned as his full lips met hers. When his hips pressed against her she gasped, breaking the kiss. He left a trail of delightful kisses across her cheek to her ear and whispered to her. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” The breathiness in her voice embarrassed her. Even after nearly a decade together he still kissed her like it was the first time. The intensity of the connection between them never waxed or waned. She wondered if it ever would. Surely a passion like this would fade over time. Like most couples, they would eventually get bored or complacent of each other. So far, much to her amazement, he could still take her breath away by just walking into a room.
“You’re awfully flush.” His nose nuzzled her neck up to her earlobe. “And your heart is racing. I guess I can’t assume that’s all because of me.”
Jolene laughed a little, feeling guilty about getting aroused from watching her childhood best friend make a strange man cum. Her cheeks became hot and she bit her lip. She didn’t want to say out loud what she saw inside. “You don’t want to know.” She caught his eye and stared into their narrowing murky brown depths. She could get lost in them if she let herself. At the moment the idea appealed to her.
“Um... Should I worry?”
“Of course, not.” In anger, she stepped aside—putting some space between them. “What are you trying to say?”
“You come running out of a strip club all hot and bothered. What I am supposed to think?”
“You’re supposed to trust me, that’s what.”
“I do.” His pronouncement didn’t sound all that convincing. But you’ve been acting all weird the last few weeks and...” Bennett sucked in an agitated breath. “We haven’t slept together in a while.”
She knew there was truth to what he said. The stress of being deployed this go around and then the little matter of her being a week late, left her muscles feeling stretched tight like a drum. It didn’t help that she’d felt bone-tired and nauseated the last few days. The big “what if” colored everything she said and did. How would it change their lives? She tried to hide her concerns and worries from him, not wanting to waste their last few days together fighting over something that could be nothing. But, apparently, she did a bad job of hiding her feelings. His showing up out of the blue to check up on her seemed so out of character for him.
“Wait! Why are you here? Are you checking up on me?”
“The guys are looking for an entrance into the underground tunnels downtown, and acting stupid.”
The secret underground tunnels that snaked underneath the Capital and the University area had always been of interest to adventure seekers, but they weren’t accessible. Hadn’t been for years.
“Why do they want to do that? Aren’t they all cemented closed anyways?”
“That’s what I told them. All I could think about was you. So I snuck away. Will and Terrance heard y’all were coming here tonight...and I don’t know. I needed to see your face and make sure we’re okay.”
The concern in his voice dampened the fire of her anger, but her irritation with him and the unknown left her feeling ragged. She knew she needed to bite the bullet and take the pregnancy test that was burning a hole in her purse. The stress of not knowing only made her more caustic to be around. Well, that and her raging hormones. “You’ve seen me.” She shrugged her shoulders.
The muscles of his jaw twitched and he shoved his hands into the pocket of his jeans. She could see the anger rise off of him like heat off asphalt. He would simmer inside, stewing in his anger, until it reached a boiling point. She knew him better than anyone, after all. But she didn’t have time for that. She shipped out in twenty-four hours. And besides that, the last thing she wanted to do was fight with him on the eve of their wedding. She needed to make it right, or at least patch it up for now.
“I’m sorry. I’m just stressed about the wedding and getting ready for deployment. I wish we could have done the wedding sooner and gotten more time together.”
Bennett stiffened and his breathing became shallow. “You know Mama wanted it at the church. I’m sorry we had to do it this way, but I’d much rather get married now than have to wait six months for you to come home.”
Jolene wrapped her arms around his stiff frame until he started to relax. “Hey, let’s not fight.”
Bennett grumbled, but a small smile crept up at the corners of his face. She tightened her hold on him—the man whose name she would take as her own tomorrow morning. She rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him again—stoking the burning embers of her desire. When she finally pulled away he groaned. His reaction thrilled her. “What are you thinking about?”
A hesitant smile unfurled across his face. “I’m a damn lucky man to be marrying you tomorrow.”
Her breathing became shallow and her heartbeat thundered against her chest. His familiar scent, a mixture of sandalwood and ginger, clouded her already sexed mind. “Damn right and don’t forget it.”
“Ahh...I see how it is.” He cupped her face in his hands and gave her a quick kiss.
He looked even more handsome than normal, which said something. At six-foot-four and two hundred pounds of hard muscle, he could turn heads any day. Tonight, he wore a crisp white oxford with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and a pair of black jeans that hung low on his hips. He’d gotten a job as an underwear model two summers ago. She kept a copy of his ad hidden away in her purse. The one with the light gray boxer briefs would be going with her on the ship to keep her company for the six-month long deployment.
“My ethereal angel.” He stroked her cheek and smiled down at her.
His penchant for sugary words only further endeared her to him. The burnt wood color of his skin against hers made her look almost translucent. From anyone else, the comment on her paleness might have bothered her, but not when it came from him. She wondered what he would say if it turned out they were pregnant. Would he be angry? Blame her? Would she still be his angel? Her smile faded and the corners of her eyes stung. She wished she could freeze this moment before everything changed. Her emotional whiplash left her feeling even more tired.
Bennett took her by the arm around the corner of the building and kissed her until she moaned. “Having any second thoughts?” He snuck his hand underneath her shirt. All worries left her mind. Gooseflesh broke out across her belly and down her arms. Her breath caught in her throat. Second thoughts? Hell, she could barely remember her name right now. She needed him to stop talking, now. So, she stilled his words with her insistent kiss and looped her arm around his neck. A soft moan escaped her as he cupped her bare breast. “You’re not wearing a bra…”
“No, I’m not.”
“What’s gotten into you…?” he got out in between her frantic kisses. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” His hot breath came in uneven pants as his thumb drew wide circles up and down her sides and under her bare breast. Her mind clouded with lust, barely registering him lifting her skirt. “Mmm...you’re so hot. It’s been too long.”
Sweat dripped down her chest and pooled between her breasts. The oppressive Texas air and the heat of their bodies pressed together made her lightheaded. When his hand pushed aside the lacy fabric of her underwear she cried out. He covered her mouth with his. Everything around them fell away and it was just the two of them. That is until a uniformed officer tapped Bennett on the shoulder making him jump back into reality.
“All right. Y’all need to break this up and take it somewhere else.”
Jolene’s stomach flip-flopped and for a moment she thought she might throw up. Too much going on for one night. The ever-unflappable Bennett grinned down at her only giving the officer a cursory glance. “Sorry officer. We’re getting married tomorrow and I guess we got a little carried away. I promise we’ll
behave, sir.”
“Yeah, yeah. Save it for the wedding night.”
Jolene hung her head and clutched her chest, trying to calm her racing heart, before she passed out. This night seemed to have no limit to the amount of craziness in it. At least it would be memorable.
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Bennett’s wiry smile seemed to be infectious because the officer, try as he might, couldn’t stifle the smile he tried to hide. The man gave them both a not so believable cursory look of warning and turned to walk away calling out over his shoulder at them, “Congratulations.”
“Now, where were we?”
Jolene glared at her husband to be. “Don’t even think about it! We’re lucky we didn’t get thrown in jail. How would we have explained that to our parents...to your mother?”
Bennett’s hyperventilating laugh shook his shoulder and made him double over. “That would have been hilarious.”
“I’m glad you think so…”
Bennett reeled her in and hugged her tight against his generous frame, enveloping her into his protective embrace. He smoothed back her hair from her face and pressed her head against his chest--her happy place. Damn. He knew her too well. Her shoulders dropped and she took a slow breath in as she started to relax for the first time that night.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he said as he rubbed slow circles across her back. “You’ve been really quiet the last few weeks. Are you getting cold feet?”
“I wasn’t having doubts, but I am now.”
Bennett chuckled and tightened his hold on her. She sighed as he kissed the top of her head. As his laugh died down, a quiet uneasy stillness fell into the cracks between them. After a few moments, he broke the silence. “All joking aside, are we okay?”
For a moment she thought about coming clean and telling him the truth, but she couldn’t. Not yet. She needed to process it all on her own first before she involved him. Despite her uneasiness, she knew without a doubt she loved him beyond all reason. So, she told him what she felt in her heart. When the time was right she would share with him what weighed so heavily on her mind.
“I love you and yes I still want to be your wife. If you’ll still have me that is.”
“Hmmm...I may need to think about that for a moment.”
Jolene shoved him hard in the chest, but he didn’t move. A former offensive guard for his college’s football team, he could hold his ground. Bennett rested his hand against her bare abdomen, distracting her. He used his size to press her up against the wall. She knew that look in his eyes. He wanted her. Jolene stretched up high to kiss him again. As she deepened the kiss it became something more than the original sweet gesture. When his lips strayed to her neck he whispered in her ear. “Your hotel is right around the corner.”
Jolene lightly pushed his chest to put some space between them. “I think we’d better stop.”
Bennett grumbled against her neck. “Mmm...but you taste so good.”
“Bennett Brown!”
To her chagrin, he charged at her again--inhaling her. “You smell so good.” He pinned her with his pelvis and for a moment she almost acquiesced to his advances. Almost.
“There you are!” Mary stood at on the sidewalk outside the club with her hands on her generous hips. “What are you doing here, Bennie? This is girls only. You can have her for the rest of your lives, but tonight she is the sole property of the wolf pack.”
Bennett glanced down at Jolene with a crooked smile on his face. “And you wonder why I worry.” “Oh, I don’t wonder. Mary totally went down on one of the dancers a little while ago.”
Bennet’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Sheesh, you have a big mouth!” Mary glowered and tightened her arms across her chest, putting up her walls that never let anyone in.
Jolene raised her brow. “I have a big mouth? I’m not the one—”
“Alright, I stepped into that one,” Mary said.
“What about William? I thought you guys— “
Mary glared at Bennett. “I don’t know what that fool has been telling you, but we are just friends. What I do with my body is my business.” Her friend’s reaction made her wonder what was really going on. But Mary wasn’t in the talking mood. No Mary wanted to party. “Come on Jo, the night is still young.”
“Bye, babe,” Jolene called out over her shoulder.
“Tomorrow...Today...whatever, be there.”
As they rounded the corner she yelled back at her man, “I’ll be there.”
Chapter Three
Harry’s Bar
September 11, 2001
2:00 AM
Jolene’s eyes slip closed of their own accord. Even with the pounding club music and the crowd singing along, she fought to stay awake.
“Seriously, what’s wrong with you,” Mary shouted above the noise. “You’re falling asleep, and you’re not even remotely drunk.”
Jolene shrugged. She couldn’t shake the exhaustion that rolled over her in waves. She’d tried to hide the fact that she wasn’t drinking by ordering things that looked like alcohol. She couldn’t bring herself to rise to the partying occasion. Her energy zapped. The night seemed to be a bust anyways and in a few hours, she would need to be up and looking presentable.
“I’m sorry to be a party-pooper, but I think I’m going to go back to the hotel.”
“You can’t leave your own party!” Mary’s eyebrows formed an angry V and her cheeks and chest pinked.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t stay awake,” she said, stifling a yawn. “Besides don’t you have a hot dancer waiting for you in your room?”
Mary glanced at her watch and sighed. “Shit! I told him two, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, ya did. You don’t have to meet up with him if you don’t want to, ya know?”
Her friend chuckled “You sure you’re okay?”
Jolene began to wonder about herself as well. Her stomach roiled as she stood, making her gag. Another spasm clenched her gut in its iron first. I’m gonna throw up! She bolted towards the bathroom without a word. The long line outside the women’s bathroom wouldn’t do. She shoved passed the angry women to the men’s room. Averting her eyes away from the man standing at the urinal she made a beeline for the single stall in the back.
“Hey, you can’t be in here!” The man hollered at her as she dropped to her knees and wretched. “Damn, lady…”
A moment later the door to the bathroom swung open and Mary came charging through. “Where is she?”
“What the hell, ladies? You have your own bathroom.”
Mary ignored the irate man and squatted down beside Jolene. “Are you pregnant?”
“What are you talking about? I’m just tired and the club is really hot.”
Another spasm clutched her gut and she dry heaved. She didn’t want to admit even to her best friend that she might be right. “I can’t be pregnant. I’m getting married tomorrow.”
“You’ve been moody as shit lately.” Mary pursed her lips and raised her brow. “You’ve been pretending to drink all night and now you’re on bended knee worshiping the porcelain gods.”
The jig was up. Between the extreme exhaustion and her upset stomach, she didn't have it in her to keep up the ruse.
“I don’t know...I haven’t taken the test yet. I kind of don’t want to know. If I don’t take it then the possibility still exists that it’s all in my head.”
The door to the bathroom swung open again and this time the club’s bouncer charged in. “Girls, you need to get out of here or I’m going to have to escort you out of the club.”
Mary scowled and rolled her eyes and the beefy man towering over them. “We’re leaving.”
Her friend helped her to her feet and slung her arm around her. They walked their way through the bustling crowd and back to their table where the very drunk Amy and Karen stood sipping their cocktails through their penis straws.
“Alright gals, I’m going to take our drunken bride back to her hotel room and
tuck her in for the night.”
“Yeah right, Mary, we all know you’re going back to get boned by that hot dancer,” Amy said.
“That too,” Mary said. “It’s called multi-tasking.”
“Think he would be up for a threesome?” Amy asked.
“Time to switch to water, sweetheart, you’re drunk if you think I’m gonna have sex with you or share that magnificent dick with anyone else.”
Jolene cringed at her friend’s booming voice, as the people standing at the table next to them turned to look over at them. “Can we go now?”
Mary nodded. “Later gals. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
Jolene swallowed hard to try and avoid throwing up all over the place. A rush of gratitude washed over her as her friend looped her arm around her. “Come on, doc, let’s get you outta here.”
Once outside the slight breeze teased her skin and chill rippled through her. “Thank you.”
“So, where’s the test?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The pregnancy test. We’ve been friends since grade school. I know you better than anyone. And if I were a betting woman I would say you probably have it stashed in that giant purse of yours.”
Jolene’s cheeks grew hot.
“So?” Mary didn’t even try to hide her irritation.
“Alright, it’s in my purse.”
Mary chuckled and pulled her closer. Her wild hair danced in the wind, making her look like some wild leprechaun. “Ah, I love you and your predictable ways.”
“Shut-up.”
Mary’s phone buzzed her back pocket and she paused mid-step to pull it out. A wide smile swathed across her face and her eyes widened.
“Big guy?” Jolene asked.
Mary thumbed him back a quick message. “I told him to give me another thirty minutes. I’ll make it worth the wait.”
Jolene smirked but said nothing.
“Hey ladies…” A drunken man stumbled towards them. “Is there an Irish festival downtown tonight or do redheads travel in packs?”