Tanner asked, “So it was scotch you were drinking last night?
“Yes, I don’t think I’ll drink that for some time.”
Tanner motioned to the waiter, “The lady will have a flight of your finest scotches!”
“Tanner! I think not! Surely I’d be sick.”
Tanner was laughing and he waved at the waiter, “She’s right. I’m kidding. Usually this fine lady can drink me under the table but tonight she is a mere sipper. Bring me a last glass of Merlot. I think that’s about the only red I’ve yet to try tonight,” Tanner turned to Kinsey as the waiter left their table and he said, “I’m sorry if I’m catching a buzz at your expense…”
Kinsey interrupted him, “My expense? I love this. You are irresistible to me at this moment. You have that scar like you’re some kind of fighter but I know you’re a lover. You’re half-drunk but it’s because we’re celebrating and I never see you like this. I want to leap across this table and make love to you. I’m always the wild one and tonight you are.” Kinsey felt Tanner’s hand begin to rub her leg under the table and she said, “Yes Tanner, more of that. I love you so much.”
Tanner took a look around the restaurant. The waiter was still away and no one was paying them any attention. He looked into Kinsey’s eyes and slid his hand inside her dress. Kinsey let her legs come apart slightly and he reached even higher.
When Tanner’s eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead, Kinsey said, “You like that? I went commando, no panties tonight. I did that for the man I love. I did that for you.”
Tanner tightened his jaw and looked deep into Kinsey’s eyes.
Kinsey felt his hand touch her, “That feels good, Tanner. I like it.”
Tanner pulled his hand back and Kinsey saw the waiter coming their way, a glass of merlot on his tray.
“I’ll be back in a moment. I have to go to the lady’s room,” she said.
Tanner watched his wife walk to the restroom, her hips sliding side to side, igniting the inner fire within him. Her tight red dress, high heels and her hair – something like a commercial – “Hair by Sammy” – flashed through his brain, and her walk, the way she teased him with it, she always did that, she knew he liked to watch her walking, both toward him and away from him, each direction providing him with a different view of her femininity. She stirred the primordial, the primitive man, inside him and Tanner took a large swallow from his newest glass of wine. The night needed to get along or he would explode; his wife was that good looking, that provocative and that sexy. He took a deep breath, then yet another drink from his glass.
He waited.
Kinsey stepped into the restroom, went to the mirror and looked into her eyes. She saw pure heat – she felt like she was in heat; his hand, her husband’s hand had touched her and started a raging fire deep inside her. She thought about him in bed, naked, and then she pictured herself sitting down on him and taking him into her and she shuddered. He looked so good. He had a scar on his cheek now and somehow he looked even better with it. She remembered the burns, the scars on his back and it became her mission to start healing them again. Never again would she forget his pain, his needs, and she vowed to make love to him until he was overwhelmed by her sexual nature and then afterward she would spend the morning tending to him and healing him. She’d kiss his scarred cheek and rub a lotion on his back.
How could he be so raw and stunning in his masculinity? She wanted him to pin her down, bend her, enter her and ravage her. She wanted to lose herself in his passion for her and then make him lose himself in her. She pulled out her lip stick, it was the reddest lipstick she’d ever seen. Sammy had given it to her when she told him just how sexy she wanted to be for her husband and she was so glad she’d told Sammy because he had taken her natural femininity and multiplied it by a thousand, what with his hairstyling and make-over and now she would put the reddest lipstick on her lips and invite her husband to kiss her. She applied the lipstick, pursed her lips together and turned for the door of the restroom.
She stepped through the door, “Swing your hips, girl,” she could almost hear Sammy’s light hearted advice, and she locked her eyes on her husband’s eyes and walked herself across the restaurant, inviting him to take her in.
Kinsey turned to Tanner behind her, as he straddled her on the scooter, and laughed. “Are you sure you want me to drive? I’m not that good on a scooter.”
Tanner had his hands around her waist, “I’ve been drinking, Kins. I would but for that. You can do it. Just concentrate on staying on the left side of the road. I’ll be back here kissing your neck and cheering you on.”
Kinsey looked about, nodded to the valet of the Four Ways Inn, and turned the throttle in her hand. Into the Bermuda night she drove and true to his word, Tanner immediately kissed her neck and whispered in her ear, “You go, Kinsey. I’ll work on titillating you as you drive and you work on getting us to the beach.”
Kinsey laughed and turned her head to the side so Tanner could kiss her again. She made a right onto the road and accelerated the scooter into the night.
After their dinner, Tanner had surprised her by having the scooter waiting for them. In its front basket was a blanket, towels and a cooler with champagne on ice, “Toasting champagne,” Tanner had told Kinsey, “so we can toast our marriage as we watch the moon rise from the sea.”
“Where is this beach?” Kinsey asked over the sound of the wind as they sped along the road.
“Take your next left.”
Kinsey made the turn and they were driving on a dark road with no traffic. The night was warm and the air clean and full with the scent of fresh flowers that were in bloom all over the island.
Kinsey felt her dress being pulled up and after two long pulls on it by Tanner it was wrapped high around her waist and she went warm knowing she was exposed to anything Tanner wanted to do with his hands as she drove the scooter.
Soon enough he was kissing her neck and telling her how good she smelled. Then his hands went to her breasts and he caressed each breast for the briefest of moments before he dropped his hands to her legs and began to lightly touch the inside of her exposed thighs. When his right hand reached her it felt so good that she almost wrecked, swerving the scooter for a moment, before getting it back under control.
Tanner put his hands around her waist again, “Can you handle that and drive at the same time, Kins?”
Kinsey leaned back into him and answered, laughing as she did so, “Listen Bud. It’s hard driving on the wrong side of the road, at night, in the dark, on a scooter of all things, with your husband’s hand between your legs rubbing you in the most intimate of ways. It’s also the most wonderful, sexual, exciting thing I’ve ever done, but if we wreck it’s both of our faults, not just mine. So keep that in mind.”
Tanner put his hand between her legs again, cupped her and said, “Ah, I understand, but I must do what I must do. Drive as best you can. Turn right, by the way, at the next road. The path to the beach will then be on our left.”
Kinsey, sexually hypnotized by Tanner’s hand and his kisses, let herself go to his magic and yet she still somehow managed to get them safely to the head of the path that led to the beach that was spread out and shining silver in the moonlight below them.
“That’s my girl,” Tanner said as he stepped of the scooter and helped Kinsey to do the same, “You handled that very well.”
He smiled at Kinsey and she answered, “I’m weak in the knees but it was more than worth it.” She stepped to Tanner and added, “Let me return the favor,” and she kissed him letting her tongue slide for the briefest of moments into his mouth before ending the embrace and saying, “I’ll save some of this for later.”
Tanner removed the cooler and the blanket and towels from the scooter basket. Kinsey took the towels and blanket from him and put out her hand. He clasped it and led her down the path to a white sand beach, framed in the rocks of a small cliff, with the ocean’s horizon stretched out before them, glowing in the l
ight of the rising full moon.
“This is beautiful, Tanner.”
Tanner squeezed her hand and nodded.
They stepped out onto the beach and Tanner set down the cooler and took the blanket from Kinsey. He spread it out full on the sand and invited Kinsey to sit. After she sat, her feet in the sand, Tanner removed his shoes, his jacket, next his tie, finally his socks.
“How far are you going to go with this, Tanner?”
“You’ll see,” Tanner answered then he took off his shirt and pants then his underwear. Now naked, gleaming in the moonlight, Tanner said, “I have a pair of board shorts and a shirt that were wrapped in the towels. Can you hand them to me?” He pointed to the folded towels on the corner of the blanket.
Kinsey smiled, “My gorgeous husband is standing naked before me in the silver moonlight on a perfect night on a deserted beach in Bermuda and he thinks I’m going to just hand him some shorts and a shirt?” Kinsey shook her head, “My eyes are in heaven right now so you might want to get use to the cool air that is blowing all over your body.”
Tanner looked around, “You’re back, Kinsey. My wife is back. I’m so glad.”
Kinsey smiled, “I am back. I feel wonderful and I have my husband to thank for it. This is so romantic, and exciting, I can’t remember the last time I felt this good.”
Tanner came down to his knees in the sand in front of Kinsey, “I have an idea.” He pulled the straps holding Kinsey’s dress down off her shoulders. In a moment her breasts were exposed and he leaned into her and kissed each one with a tender intensity.
Kinsey gasped and ran her fingers through his hair then she pushed him back from her chest and kissed him as passionately as she knew how to do. She wanted Tanner to know she missed him and that she was sorry for denying herself to him in the previous months. When their kiss came to an end she put her hands on Tanner’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes and she said, “I will never hold my body back from you again. I am so sorry I did that; I thought you were going to go away and cheat on me while I was here in Bermuda. I was convinced of it and I understood why you would do that. As soon as the plane landed on the runway I knew I’d been mean to you and I felt terrible. I hated myself even more and then all I could think was that I had to do whatever it took to get you back. I will never hurt you again, Tanner.” Kinsey put her hand to his face, ran her thumb over the stitches on his cheek, “You always hurt for me. I won’t let you hurt anymore.”
Kinsey felt the deepest love for Tanner welling up within her, “Tanner, I love you but I can’t express how deep to you it is. I love you with my heart, my mind, my bones… Tanner, I love you in my loins, deep inside my womb, and within my very soul. And as an artist and as a friend I can’t think of a way to tell you how much love I have for you, but as your wife I can show you. Help me out of this dress and I will show you.”
Tanner stood quickly from the sand and pulled Kinsey up with him. He kissed her and ran his hand along the hem of her dress then under it and he squeezed her tightly, “Then show me now,” he said.
It was all Kinsey needed and she pulled out of her dress with a sexual intensity that manifested itself as a guttural groan that came from deep inside her chest and throat. Then standing naked before her husband she looked at him and saw how much he wanted her. She could see the obvious sign of his desire and that thrilled her but when she looked in his eyes she saw the raw sexual passion of a man hungry to take her in the most passionate of ways.
Her instincts told her to run and she took off across the shining sand of the moonlit beach leaving her husband with no option other than to chase her down if he was going to have his way with her. She was his to have, all night and forever, but first he had to overwhelm her.
She made it down to the water’s edge and she turned and ran up the beach, her feet splashing in the water. There were rocks ahead and she put her mind to making it to them but then she heard Tanner, his steps and his deep breaths, and then she felt herself being lifted in his arms and brought firmly down into the seawater. His lips met hers, salty, wet and tasting of the fine red wines he’d been drinking earlier in the evening and she surrendered herself to him and closed her eyes.
Kinsey was too much to resist and when she had started running from him down the beach it set off an urge within Tanner that sent him after her with a singular intention.
He was gaining on her. He couldn’t take his eyes off the muscles of her long striding legs and as he closed the gap on her he put one hand to her back as he wrapped his other hand around her and he brought her firmly, gently, down into the edge of the waves as they rolled to shore.
He grabbed her by the hair and kissed her lips. Then he kissed her neck as he lifted her from the water and carried her to the dry shore. He laid her in the sand and loomed above her for a long, long moment. Kinsey, her eyes shining in the moonlight, looked up to him and parted her legs.
Tanner was in her and the feeling of being locked together, finally united, with Kinsey, was physically overwhelming and the sound of her calling and screaming his name as he pinned her to the sand and rocked her was too much and he released. A part of him worried it was too fast for Kinsey but when he felt her own body convulsing, over and over, arching up to meet his, he knew she had met his explosive climax with many of her own and he collapsed down upon her.
They laid next to each other and watched the moon rise high in the night sky and they held hands, held one another, and kissed as they talked and reunited within the bounds of their marriage.
Later, still on the beach, “I want to paint again, Tanner. I want to do portraits of Sammy and Justin. I want to paint rocks on a beach and I want to take some photos of you here in Bermuda. I have in mind you sitting at a bar by a beach, with a setting sun, a beer in your hand, unshaven, hair salty and wet, no shirt, nice tan, looking right through the camera lens.”
Tanner ran his fingers through Kinsey’s own damp hair, “That all sounds good. It very much sounds like Kinsey the artist, except for the photo of me.”
“The paintings are the artist in me. The photo is me wanting a take a picture of my husband that is how I see him in my mind. You having a beer where the land meets the sea is how I want to remember you.”
“The painting you gave me, the Naked Sunset, is how I will always remember you – a church steeple, a bright sun, your gorgeous naked body and your soul both being offered to the world, to God and to me. I would go look at it while you weren’t feeling good and remind myself of what we have. Your painting reminded me of what we had and I just had to make sure it lasted until you felt better.”
Kinsey sat up and Tanner did likewise.
“So why Bermuda? Why did you send me here?”
“I was speaking to your doctor and Father Ron and it became apparent that you needed to get away from the gifts that God had put in your life so you would miss them. I knew, without a doubt, that the mother in you would begin to miss Bark and Jessie very quickly.”
“I did. I ached for them. You as well, Tanner.”
Kinsey was staring hard at Tanner as she spoke, a pain deep inside her eyes, and Tanner said, “Let it go, Kins. I remember you going to confession. Did the priest absolve you of all this?”
Kinsey nodded.
“Then we do too. End of story,” Tanner reached out and pulled Kinsey to him and he kissed her as tenderly as he knew how.
“I miss my babies, Tanner.”
“We can fix that soon enough. But let’s get back to your question, why Bermuda? You asked and I intend to answer.”
“Okay.”
“This is a beautiful island. It has colors – in the sky, the water, the trees, the houses, the ships, the people – that are beautiful. I knew the desire to express yourself would be reignited here…”
“You were right, it did. I can’t believe you went to all this trouble for me.”
“To be honest, it was like I was trying to seduce you. Like I was making you fall back in love with me and I’m enj
oying it immensely. What we did at the water’s edge, earlier tonight – I’ll never forget that.”
Kinsey leaned onto Tanner’s shoulder, reached across and ran her hand along his chest, “You’re right, you seduced me and I’m so in love with you it hurts to think about it. I thank God for you, Tanner. I really do.”
Tanner wrapped his arm around Kinsey’s shoulders, “I do for you as well,” he said.
Still later, with the glow of the soon to be rising sun coloring the waters of the sea’s far horizon, and with Kinsey and Tanner now dressed, she in her red dress and he in his board shorts, and preparing to leave the beach and ride back to the hotel, Tanner said to Kinsey, “I have to leave you at the hotel and return back to where I have been staying. I have one more thing for you.”
Kinsey was folding a towel. She stopped and looked at Tanner, “I’m not leaving your side. I don’t want to be away from you.”
“I promise it’s only until lunch. You can sleep until I come wake you. We can make love and then I want to take you to a good place. I won’t be gone long.”
The beach lit up with the golden light of the rising sun and Kinsey watched the sun for a long moment, as it ignited the clouds and water on the horizon and then she turned to Tanner, “Take off your clothes. I don’t want to be without you, I want to make love to you again as the sun rises. Then you can take me back to the hotel and I will sleep and then wait for you to come back to me.”
Tanner lay back on the blanket and watched as Kinsey stepped from her dress. Her hair was untamed now, almost dry, tangled and wild from the ocean breeze. Her breasts were taut and her nipples erect as she stepped over him. She sat down to him and brought him into her. She rode him and kissed him, crying his name as the beach brightened with the coming day and she punched on his chest as she ascended from a high peak to ever higher peaks, one after another, and then she gasped, “You too, Tanner. Now! Be with me now,” and as her body began to convulse she collapsed down on top of him and ran her lips all over his salty skin waiting for him to come to her.
Lights on the Far Horizon Trilogy Page 31