Milestones

by Hensley, Alta

  He slipped his hand around her waist, lowering her to the hay covered ground below. Fingers laced, thighs rubbing against thighs, her breasts molded into his torso, the clothing between them begging to be ripped off.

  “I’ve missed your kiss,” he said, his gaze dipping to her lips.

  Reflexively, she moistened them, slipping her tongue across her mouth, waiting for his to make contact. Slowly, they kissed, soft, romantic, and pure. Although Paige noticed the passion building as the hardness of his desire pressed against her leg. The thickness put an ache between her legs as his denim pressed against her nude pussy. She wanted him unconfined, nothing to get in the way of their connection.

  He slid his hand to the moistness of her sex, driving her thirst for sex to a whole new level. She felt nearly driven to the edge, wanting desperately to beg him for more. “Please, Connor. I need you.”

  Paige guided her hands up under his shirt, releasing a long sigh when they ran along the mature muscles of his body. Twelve years had been good to him, very, very good.

  While her fingers went to work releasing the buttons of his shirt, he nibbled on her ears, her neck, driving her need even higher. In a hungered blur, she pulled off clothing that got in the way, followed by him doing the same.

  Connor cupped her face and planted a slow, deep kiss on her lips. His mouth blazed a path from her lips back to the base of her neck. She let a sensual moan escape her lips hoping to encourage him to keep going.

  Skimming her fingers down his rippled stomach, she tugged against the button of his jeans, the last item of clothing that stood between their reunion. “Take these off,” she commanded.

  He stood for a moment to tug down his jeans, gazing over her nude body as he did. “My God, Paige. You’re more beautiful than I remember.”

  The simple sight of his hard, thick erection brought on the beginning of an orgasm. The mere thought of what was to come almost drove her over the edge. She gasped as his cock pressed against her. Digging her fingers into his shoulders as he pressed beyond the tightness, entering her completely. The delicious sting, quickly replaced with an erotic pleasure that captured her breath.

  Connor continued to place gentle kisses all over her neck and face, while his thick shaft probed deeper within. The contrast of soft and hard managed to push her toward that familiar edge. Sparks, electricity, pure animalistic need washed over, drowning her in pleasure as they both rocked each other into completion.

  ****

  “I’ve missed you so much, Paige. I’ve missed this.”

  “I missed you, too. More than you know.” Paige smiled at him as she put on the last of her clothing. Wishing they could lie naked in each other’s arms forever.

  “I want you back in my life,” he said, the determination in his eyes as unrelenting as the tone of his voice.

  Paige snuggled in his arms, wondering if she should undress him again and go for round two.

  Their lips met, a pull neither could resist any longer. Their hunger never satiated. Time and distance had kept them apart, but their souls never parted. His heart beat against hers as he arranged her body closer. The single kiss had the power to reunite. The kiss was the period to the sentence. One kiss spoke volumes of what they meant.

  Slipping her arms around his neck, Paige pulled away enough to stare into his eyes. “I want you back, too.” Nearly suffocated by emotion, Paige wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, wishing this moment could last forever.

  “I should’ve never let you go,” he murmured, drawing her lips to his. “You’re everything –” But before he could say more, a voice called from outside the barn.

  “Hello? Ms. Holland?”

  They both stood, scanning each other quickly to make sure they were appropriately dressed, and turned to stare at the man walking toward them.

  “Oh… you must be the contractor. Mr. Peters?” Paige dropped her hand from around Connor’s and took a guilty step to the side, putting distance between them. “Thank you for coming out so quickly.”

  Connor glared down at Paige, as she tried not to make eye contact. He would be pissed she decided to call the shark after all.

  “Call me John.” He took a few steps in the barn and studied the ceiling. “You weren’t kidding when you said this place would take a lot of work.” He continued to saunter closer until he reached them and stopped, a smile spreading across his face. “Nothing I can’t handle, though. It should be pretty straightforward.”

  Connor huffed. “Of course you would say that.” Focusing his attention toward Paige he continued, “What the hell is going on here? You went ahead and called this lowlife after all?” he asked angrily.

  Paige quickly stepped between the two men. “When you said you wouldn’t take the job—” she glanced at Connor, then quickly away, unable to meet the angry stare as he waited for her to continue, “— I found someone who would.”

  “Paige.” Connor spoke calmly, but with tension in his voice. “Tell this gentleman you’ll no longer need his services.”

  Though she knew the familiar tone, even after all these years, Paige couldn’t bring herself to do as he asked.

  “Paige,” Connor said again, more forcefully this time.

  Paige stood her ground. With everything that recently went on between Conner and her, she should be quick to submit to his commands. And yet… her desire to rebuild this barn overpowered all else. She knew she should ask John to leave, as Connor wanted her to, but she refused to be at Connor’s mercy when it came to deciding the future of the barn. Yet, if she didn’t…

  She turned to Connor, pleading with her eyes for empathy. “Connor, please try to understand. I want to get started on the construction as soon as possible. You said no, and I needed to move on. I—” But before she could say more, he took a large step away, flexing the muscles in his jaw, his arms crossing against his broad chest. Then, without another word, he left. Paige watched him go, not sure if she should chase after him, but she felt embarrassed for this all to happen in front of a complete stranger.

  “Ms. Holland? Have I come at a bad time?”

  Still watching Connor get into his truck, she heaved a deep breath and concentrated on John. Forcing a smile, she said, “I’m really sorry, Mr. Peters, but I’ve already chosen my contractor.”

  Chapter 4

  Connor marched from one side of his office to the other in a frustrated fury. She’d went against his wishes, and refused to back down. Paige. His sweet, innocent, submissive Paige. At least that’s what she was twelve years ago. Now… well now… she was just plain infuriating. She was a woman now. Not a girl.

  He stopped at the memory of spanking her in the barn before that damn contractor interrupted them, and grinded his teeth, a futile attempt to fight back the craving, the desire, the need… the love. The girl he loved had become a woman… who he loved even more.

  He began pacing the room again, fighting the urge to hit something. Why did she want this barn so bad? Why in the hell would she throw so much money into it? She had no idea how much it would take. How many months and years of construction, only to have to start the next phase just when you thought you were done. She had no idea and didn’t trust him. Drawing his hands through his hair he suddenly realized what had him so upset. She didn’t trust him. Paige no longer had trust in his word.

  He stormed to the front office, and grabbed a cup of cold coffee from earlier. Staring out the window, he sipped the sludge wondering why he was so against this project. If it were anyone else besides Paige would he take the job? He knew the answer was yes. So why was he fighting her so bad on this?

  ****

  Paige marched Main Street with heavy heart. She didn’t mean to upset Connor. She also worried that she embarrassed him. But she couldn’t give up on her dream of the barn, either. Not when this was something she truly felt passion for in a long time. Well that …and Connor.

  She took the stairs up the porch of Connor’s office, her mouth dry. She loved Connor m
ore than anything, even more than the barn. She had to find a way to convince him to help her with it. She really wanted his blessing and guidance. It really couldn’t be more perfect. She and Connor side by side, rebuilding the barn at the same time as they rebuilt their love. Paige smirked at the cheesy romance element of it, but knew it was exactly what needed to happen. So how in the world would she convince the most stubborn man she ever knew to see her side of it?

  As she walked in the door, she steadied herself for his anger. Her steps were slow at first, hesitant. “Connor? Are you here?”

  She waited, wringing her hands together, as she struggled to catch her breath. She heard his heavy footsteps rap against the hardwood floors as he appeared in the doorway of his office.

  “What do you want, Paige?”

  “I’ve come to tell you that I plan to move forward with rebuilding the barn.”

  “Good for you.” Connor spun around and stalked back into his office.

  “Connor! Wait!”

  He slowed at the sound of her voice and peered over his shoulder. Her heart skipped at the hurt she saw in his eyes.

  “I’ve come to tell you that I’m here to hire you as the contractor. Now before you turn me down, I want you to know I’m quite aware of how much time and money this will take. But I’m also aware there’s no one else…” Paige paused and took a deep breath. “There is no one else I could imagine doing this with besides you. I need you,” she stated, unconsciously reaching out a hand, beckoning his touch.

  Connor stared at her hand and then at her tear filled eyes. His expression firm, unbreakable, then softly it melted. He turned so he faced her fully. His body took up the entire space of the doorway.

  Paige stood still, barely breathing, her hand still outstretched. “Please. I want this more than anything. But I don’t want it without you.”

  “Why? Why do you want to fix the barn so bad?”

  The weight of her past felt like a hundred pound brick rested on each shoulder. “When I was growing up, my house was a living hell. I don’t need to tell you that.”

  Connor simply nodded.

  “The barn was a place I could run off to and pretend everything was great in my life. As a young child, I would pretend it was my castle, or my ship that would take me to a far away land. I used to pretend the hay was gold in my lair of jewels. The barn was my fantasy land.”

  Paige wiped at a single tear that escaped down her face. She drew in a deep breath before continuing. “Then when I got older and met you, the barn became something different. Instead of it being my fantasy, it became the place where my fantasies occurred. I had my first kiss there. I fell in love there. I lost my virginity and my heart to you there.”

  “But that doesn’t explain why you want to rebuild it,” Connor added.

  “Doesn’t it? That barn was my home. It may not have been my house, but it was my childhood home.” The tears released against her will. “I moved away to find happiness. And at times I found it. But something was always missing. I felt like a gypsy with no real place to call my own. I wanted a home. I wanted something I never had. But then it hit me… I did have it as a child. I did have a home. The barn. So I want to create a home out of what’s left of my memories.”

  “Together?”

  She tensed, fighting the hope that threatened to consume her. She searched his face, his posture, for some clue as to what he felt. “Yes,” she barely whispered.

  “I don’t ever want to lose you again. I made that mistake once and I refuse to let it happen again.” Connor took the few steps that separated them and grabbed her hand. “For years, every time I drove by that pile of rubble you call a barn, all I saw was my mistake. It reminded me of how I let the best thing in the world go. I hated seeing it. I hated the feeling of sadness and loss I always got. That barn equaled pain to me.”

  Tears welled in her eyes, in her heart. “But the barn equals love to me.”

  Connor pulled Paige into his arms, burying her face against his chest. “I let you go because we were so young. You loved me too much. Or at least that was the foolish belief I had at the time. I didn’t feel I was man enough for you, yet. We needed to grow, experience, and live life.”

  Paige nodded against his warmth. “You were probably right.”

  “I was an idiot,” he murmured against her hair. “I was even more stupid that I didn’t hunt you down and demand to have you back in my life years ago. Then you did come back…but not for me. You came back for the barn. I guess I was jealous.”

  “No,” she countered, clutching tighter to him. “I did come back for you. All I wanted was you. It’s why I wanted that barn so badly. To me, that barn was you and me. It was everything we were, and I wanted so desperately to rebuild that.”

  He tipped her face up to meet his, his eyes filled with a blend of love and passion. “I want to rebuild us. I love you.”

  “I love you.”

  “We’ve got a lot of lost years to make up for.” Connor paused and smiled. “And we have a lot of hard work ahead of us. That damn barn in one hell of a project.”

  Smiling through her tears, she hugged him tightly. “Then we better get to work,” she said as she drew his lips to hers. “You’re officially on the clock.”

  UNMET DESIRE

  By Renee Rose

  Chapter One

  Claire woke from the dream vision of a sponge squeezing blood into a metal bowl.

  She knew immediately: her period had arrived.

  Reaching for the thermometer to take her body basal temperature, she fought off a crushing wave of depression. Another month without getting pregnant. Another failure.

  She jotted down the temperature and rolled over on her back, staring at the elephant hanging over the bed. It was the feng shui fertility cure she’d implemented, along with every other superstition for getting pregnant, including getting rid of metal bedsprings (their mattress now lay on a wooden platform), removing her belly button piercing, eliminating coffee and wine from her diet, sprinkling cornmeal over a turquoise corn-maiden figurine and wearing moonstone.

  Maybe thirty-four was too old to have a baby. She’d passed her prime, and her body had no idea how to make a baby now.

  She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of Luis humming in the shower. She opened them when he emerged with a towel wrapped around his lanky frame, his jaw-length dark hair tousled and wet. One year of marriage and she still could not believe the sexy mayor of Taos was hers. Or, better put, she was his.

  “Are you still in bed, Clarita?”

  She sat up heavily and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I think I got my period.”

  Luis hesitated in pulling on his sock. “You think, or you did?”

  His question grated on her sensitive nerves. “Well, I’m not sure, but I had a dream, okay?” It sounded far bitchier than she’d intended—a violation of their domestic discipline agreement of respect.

  He did not acknowledge the broken rule with the customary raised eyebrow that made her knees go weak. Instead, there was weary sympathy in his expression, only increasing her anguish. He pulled on his other sock and walked over to take her into his arms, planting a kiss on her forehead. “I’m sorry, reina.”

  She pulled away when the tears smarted her eyes and walked to the shower with an exaggerated sigh. She wanted more from Luis. She wanted him somehow to fix this, the way he fixed everything. Her expectations clearly exceeded reality here, but knowing that did not make her any less pissy with him.

  She showered and dressed mechanically, listening to the sounds of her husband urging his sons to get their things together for school. She emerged to give him a kiss. “Buen dÍa,” she muttered.

  He put a finger under her chin, his dark-lashed brown eyes warm. “Be good to yourself today,” he said.

  For the second time that morning her nose burned with self-pity and she pulled away, swallowing it. “I’m rehearsing my class tonight for their dance performance, so I won’t be home t
ill seven.”

  “Okay, baby. Have a good day. I love you.”

  “Love you,” she said weakly.

  She waited until they left before she padded out. The kitchen was a mess, the disaster of two pre-pubescent boys and a husband in a hurry. Normally, she liked to clean up after them. She had a housewife fetish—insisting that Luis set rules for her about keeping the house clean and having dinner on time, but lately playing Susie Homemaker did not turn her on. Actually, lately, nothing turned her on.

  She left the kitchen in the state of disaster she found it, further adding to it with her cereal bowl and spoon and drove to her Feldenkrais studio for her first appointment. In the Jeep, her phone rang and she grabbed it, sliding her finger over the screen to answer, despite the hands-free driving law in New Mexico.

  “Sandy!” she exclaimed, happy to hear from her friend from New York, one of the dancers she’d become close to when she lived there. “Oh shit, I just passed a cop. I’ll call you back, okay?”

  Clearly it was not her day, because she watched the police car make a U-turn behind her, putting on its lights to signal her to pull over.

  Well, crap.

  Her heart thumped with the involuntary physical reaction of being “in trouble.” These were the times when being wired as a submissive annoyed her. She recognized the face approaching in her rearview mirror and she scanned her mental files trying to remember his name. He had been one of the officers who showed up when her casita was broken into in the incident that had propelled her and Luis together. Artie Mora! Or was it Arturo?

  “Good morning, Officer Mora,” she said with a sweet smile, praying her remembered her as the Mayor’s girl.

  He squinted at her.

  She did not see any register of recognition.

  “Were you talking on your cell phone while you were driving, ma’am?”

  “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, Officer. It rang and I picked up without thinking. I understand if you have to give me a ticket, but please don’t tell the mayor or he’ll take me over his knee,” she pleaded, putting on her best little girl face.