Thankful for You

by Cindy Spencer Pape

  “Damn, Elsie. I’d hoped to get through dinner first.” He devoured her lips, his tongue plunging deep to tangle with hers. He slid his hands under her sweatshirt, unclasped her bra, and cupped her breasts. “But oh, God, do you feel good.”

  “Don’t want to wait.” She arched her breasts into his hands and pulled her sweatshirt and bra off over her head. “Will dinner keep?”

  “Yeah.” He pressed her backward over his arm and took her nipple into his mouth. She cried out at the wet heat and ground against his groin again, wishing they were both out of their clothes. His touch burned her skin, his rough fingers kneading her other breast and rubbing the nipple. She could barely breathe, but she gasped his name as he sucked on her, driving her toward a peak without even taking off her pants.

  “Come for me, sweetheart.” He switched his mouth to the other breast, then used his other hand on the abandoned one. Her eyes fluttered shut. He sucked harder and pinched, grinding his pelvis against hers so she could feel his hard-on through both pairs of jeans. “Come on, you know you want to.”

  When he nipped her softly with his teeth behind his lips, she did, wailing his name as she hung there. The position left her feeling suspended in space, which added an element something like free-fall to what was already a powerful orgasm. She squeezed her legs tight on his, wanting him so badly it hurt.

  “Good job.” He licked and stroked her gently until she could breathe again, then lifted her to her feet. “Jeans off.”

  Elsie held onto his shoulders for support while he shucked off her jeans and underwear. She’d kicked off her sneakers sometime before, but didn’t remember doing it. Then Sig shoved his own pants and boxers down to his knees, threw his flannel shirt onto the seat of the recliner, and sat, pulling her back above him, straddling his hips. Rubbing the tip of his cock with her wet pussy, Elsie licked her lips.

  Sig groaned. “Shit. Rubber’s in my pocket.”

  She backed away while he fumbled in his jeans and sheathed himself, then she poised herself again.

  With a wicked grin, Sig reached over the edge and reclined the chair with a thump, so he lay stretched out beneath her. They both laughed—a first for Elsie. Sex had never been playful before, and she decided from now on, she was going to treat it that way. Sex ought to be fun, damn it. She wiggled her ass to torture Sig as she slowly impaled herself on his straining shaft.

  “You fit me like a fucking glove,” he murmured, tangling a hand in her hair to pull her down for a kiss. “All hot and wet and so damned tight, I’m already about to burst.”

  “Ah, come on, Nowicki,” she teased. “You’re better than that aren’t you?” She moved at a slow, sensual pace, loving the feeling of fullness, of rightness that she’d only ever experienced with Sig. He played with her nipples, already tender from the first round, and soon she was rocking furiously, moaning every time he lifted his hips to thrust into her. She peaked again, screaming this time as sparks flashed in her vision. Sig clamped both arms around her ass, holding her to him while he pumped deep into her, moaning her name.

  For long moments, they lay in a sweaty heap on the recliner, both too limp to move. Sometime later, they both washed quickly in the tiny powder room. Then, her limbs still rubbery, Elsie pulled her clothes back on, minus socks and bra, and followed him into a beautiful kitchen, modern with stainless steel and granite, but with all the charm of the rest of the house. An antique enamel worktable and two chairs nestled in a window-filled breakfast nook, with a stack of books littering it as if he’d just stepped away from reading.

  Warm, rich scents of baking bread and roasted vegetables filled her nostrils. “Something smells amazing.”

  He used what looked like welding gloves to pull a casserole out of the lower drawer on his high-tech oven. “You said you didn’t eat a lot of meat, so tonight’s meal is vegetarian, though not totally vegan. The bread has eggs and milk in it and I crumbled some goat cheese in the salad.”

  “Perfect. I do eat meat once or twice a week. I loved the salmon they had last night at the dinner. There were a few years, though, when I had to scrimp for every penny. During that time, I discovered that rationing out beef or chicken made my budget stretch a lot further. After a while, I didn’t miss it.” She looked at the cluttered table. “Do you usually eat in here or the dining room?”

  “Here. But I thought we’d use the dining room tonight.” He gestured with his head since his hands were still full of the fragrant casserole.

  “You don’t have to impress me, Sig. I’m fine with the kitchen.” She stacked a few of the books and moved them to a vacant spot on the counter. “Now, where are the plates?”

  With a wry grin, he set the dish down on the work table. “That cupboard.” He tapped one on his way back to the stove. This time he pulled out a loaf of homemade bread. Her mouth watered at the aroma and her stomach rumbled. He placed the bread on a cutting board while she set out plates and salad bowls. “Wine, beer, or soda?”

  “A little wine, if you have it.” She checked the table again to be sure they had everything then took her seat while he poured from a fresh bottle of something pink.

  He sat across from her and lifted his glass. “To beginnings.”

  “And to friendship,” she added, reminding him of their arrangement. It wouldn’t do to get too used to this, no matter how right it felt sharing a meal with him at the kitchen table.

  “There’s all kinds of friendship. My parents were best friends until the day my dad died. That was only one of the ways they loved each other.” He sipped his wine. “Now, eat. I had to call and beg my sister for her ratatouille recipe, so here’s hoping I got it right.”

  She tried a bite and closed her eyes in bliss. “You did. This is amazing.” So was the salad, and even the bread. “Everything else and you cook, too. Anyone ever tell you you’re an overachiever?”

  He shrugged. “I look at you and think the same thing. Your touch with the animals is exceptional. You’ve built a successful business in a place where a lot of non-locals are looked on with suspicion. You’ve won over nearly everyone in town. On top of that, you’re one of the most effortlessly beautiful women I’ve ever met.”

  “Thanks.” The way he said it, not with flattery, but as a simple statement of fact convinced her that he meant it. She blinked and sucked in a ragged breath. He honestly did find her girl-next-door looks attractive.

  “Anyway, here’s my proposition for tonight. We trade questions. I ask one, you answer. If you don’t, you have to pay a forfeit.” He wiggled his eyebrows in a comic leer. “Then it’s your turn to ask me anything you want.”

  She peered at him over the rim of her wineglass. “What kind of forfeit are we talking about?”

  “We’ll start with kisses. How’s that?” He kept eating while he talked. It had to take a lot of fuel to keep all that muscle mass going.

  Of course, sex had given her an appetite, too. “I can live with that, but I’m going first. How did you get the name Sigmund? It isn’t very common in our generation.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “My great-grandfather. When I was little, my folks would tell me they named me after a sea monster on a Saturday morning kids’ show.”

  “Ow. That was mean.” He’d probably realized they were joking.

  “Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “How about you? Elsie isn’t very common either, unless you’re a cow.”

  She stuck her tongue out. “Gee, I haven’t heard that joke since grade school. Actually, my name is Elsbeth. Also after an ancestor. I went by Beth when I was younger, to avoid the cow jokes. When I moved here, I wanted a new start, so I began using Elsie.” Now what to ask, before he dug any further into that subject. “How old were you when your dad died?”

  “Sixteen. He was a trucker, killed by a drunk driver when he swerved to avoid her on an icy road.” Memories flickered in his eyes, but she could tell he’d come to terms with his loss.

  “I’m sorry, Sig.”

  He smiled. “Thanks. Now, t
ell me about your family. You’ve never mentioned any of them, not once. Where are your parents?”

  She sucked in a deep breath. “I never met my dad. My mom never told me who he was. She passed away when I was in college. No siblings.” She added that last answer for free.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, too.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Your turn.”

  “Why did you buy your parents’ house and restore it instead of buying something new?”

  “That’s an easy one.” He cut a slice of bread. “I love this place. The lines, the workmanship, the layout. I like living close to downtown. My whole life, I thought the house would be perfect if this was fixed and that was modernized. It’s a challenge, but it was also an anchor when I first got home and my head wasn’t in a very good place. So why did you pick Haven?”

  “It happened to have a pet store for sale when I was looking for a business to buy. Plus the name appealed to me.” She’d been in such a rough mental state when she’d come here. Too bad she hadn’t overcome it as well as Sig. “Here’s an easy one. How old are you?”

  “Thirty-six. You?” He lobbed her softball right back at her.

  “Thirty-two.” She thought a minute. “Why haven’t you ever married?”

  He lifted one eyebrow. “How do you know I haven’t?”

  “Please.” She rolled her eyes. “The town grapevine wouldn’t have missed that. Now give, or pay the forfeit.”

  “All right. It’s pretty simple. The only time I was interested, she told me she wouldn’t unless I left the Army. The fact that I wasn’t ready to do that convinced me she wasn’t the right woman for me anyway.” He looked her square in the eyes. “You have been married, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.” The last thing she wanted to talk about was Gary. “What’s your favorite color?”

  “Whatever color T-shirt you have on that day.” He shook his head. “Honestly, it’s entirely situational. I don’t have an overall favorite. Now, tell me about your ex. Did he hit you, or was the abuse all psychological?”

  “Only verbal. I think I told you that before. But he was extremely good at it, and it took me a long time to have any sense of self-worth again.” She glanced down at her plate to avoid his gaze. “What kind of music do you like?”

  “All kinds, depending on my mood. What’s his name?”

  “Gary Rosenbaum. Where did you go to college?”

  “In bits and pieces on base and on the Internet. Where’s Gary now? Chicago?”

  She simply nodded. “Look I’m out of questions. Ask whatever you want.”

  He reached over and covered her hand with his. “Is he completely out of the picture or is he the stalker kind of ex? Are you hiding?”

  She shrugged again. “He’s been here—maybe a couple times a year. Mostly he whines. He lost a ton of money in the stock market and his law firm is floundering. He seems to think I have a fortune hidden somewhere, since I used to be a high-paid accountant.”

  “Have you given him any?” He slid his hand down to her shoulder and his voice was exquisitely gentle, with no trace of recrimination.

  “A few hundred here and there. Not much.” But it had been enough to earn her a few sleepless nights worrying about paying the bills. Thank God for steady customers like Sig.

  To her surprise, he didn’t freak out and yell at her. “I figured. You’re too kind not to. But you know it has to end, right?”

  She nodded. “He hasn’t shown his face in a while.”

  “Next time, call me if you need backup.” He ate a few more bites. “How long were you married?”

  “Three years.” The more questions she answered, the easier it got. Sig was truly a world-class listener. “Legally, a few months more, but the marriage was done.”

  “What happened?” Again, there was no judgment in his tone or expression.

  “He cheated. Then I was in a car accident. Afterward, I had kind of a…nervous breakdown. Spent some time in a psych ward, then a little more in a private facility. When I got out, I’d dredged up enough backbone to walk away and not listen to his rants anymore.”

  “Good for you.” He tipped his glass to her. “Now tell me the rest. There was more to this than smashing a car, wasn’t there?”

  She nodded. She’d barely spoken about this to the shrinks at the hospital, let alone anyone else. “I…I was four months pregnant when I got in the accident. I lost the baby. Gary blamed me, probably rightly, since I was leaving him at the time I crashed.” Her voice was thin and wobbly, but to her surprise, she got through the entire last sentence.

  He dropped his knife and fork with a clatter on the plate to come around and kneel beside her, wrapping her in a tight embrace. “Oh, Jesus, sweetheart, I am so, so sorry.”

  Elsie wept. She leaned into Sig’s arms and cried for her lost little girl and her lost dreams and her lost optimism. Through it all, he cradled her against his chest and murmured soothing words into her hair and ear.

  “Sweetheart, it was so not your fault. Sometimes shit happens to the people who least deserve it. Life doesn’t always give us reasons or people to blame. But don’t blame yourself.”

  She sniffled into his shirt. “I was going to call her Laura,” she said. “Nice and normal but not too old-fashioned. We were going to explore the world together, after we left her asshole of a father behind.”

  “I’ll bet she would have been as beautiful as you.” He wiped her hair off her face. “No wonder you fell apart. There’s no shame in grieving.”

  “According to Gary, there was. He kept drilling into my head that since I ran away, I must have intentionally….” She blew her nose on the napkin he handed her.

  “I think we’ve established that Gary is an asshat. Do not believe a word he said. He badgered you into the breakdown, didn’t he?” He took the napkin and set it aside, showing no signs of being grossed out by bodily functions—also unlike Gary.

  “Yeah.” It was the first time she’d admitted that to anyone. “He hated that I made more money as an account executive with my CPA firm than he did as an associate attorney. Wanted me to quit. At one point, he emailed in my resignation letter. I went to confront him and found him with his dick in another woman’s mouth. That’s when I lost it completely and blacked out. I woke in the hospital.” She looked away, still ashamed of her weakness.

  “We all have scars, inside and out. Does my face bother you?” He kissed her forehead. “My hand? The rest of me?”

  “Of course not. But you’re a hero. I’m only a….”

  “A beautiful, kind, loving, traumatized woman.” He kissed her nose this time. “That’s all I see.”

  She looked into his eyes and saw the truth. He meant absolutely every word. She gave him a tremulous smile. “Thank you. That helps—a lot.” It would be a long time before she was fully healed, if she ever was, but she could be with Sig more easily, now that he knew all of her ugly secrets and hadn’t turned away. She turned to look at her plate, the wonderful food now utterly unappealing. “Do you mind if I don’t finish my dinner?”

  “Not a bit.” He stood and quickly moved the plates to the sink. “I’ll do dishes in the morning.” Lids went on the casserole and salad and he popped them into the fridge. “Why don’t I show you the rest of the house? That is, if you still want to stay.”

  “I do.” She drew in a deep, energizing breath. “Very much.”

  “Cool.” He kissed her, laced his fingers through hers, and hauled her to her feet. “Keep in mind that most of the second floor isn’t finished yet.”

  “Is your bedroom done?” She followed him up a set of back stairs that led off the kitchen door.

  “Yep. Third floor. Hope you don’t mind the walk. I’m working on a permit for a small elevator, but the historical society hasn’t approved it yet.” His limp showed a bit by the time they reached the top. By mutual consent, they hadn’t bothered stopping at the second floor.

  “I don’t mind, but isn’t this hard on your leg?” She
looked around the enormous room that occupied most of the top floor of the house. Sectioned off corners were probably a bath and closet. Out by the front window was a desk and a sitting area with a small TV. Toward the back of the house was a king-sized bed, the cream-colored sheets turned down invitingly. Nice!

  “The exercise is good. I want the elevator, though, for later—in case, as I get older, the leg gets worse. One day I might even be in a wheelchair, if things go the wrong way. Does that worry you?”

  “Not in the slightest.” She didn’t even pause to think that she wouldn’t be with him then. It didn’t matter what kind of physical shape he was in. He’d still be the best specimen of manhood she’d ever met.

  With no reservations whatsoever, she joined him in the king-sized bed.

  Chapter Seven

  Sig looked over at Elsie, sleeping so peacefully on her stomach, with her knees drawn under her, pushing her butt into the air. She was adorable, even sound asleep. He couldn’t help wishing he could wake to her like this every morning of his life. They’d been dating for exactly two and a half days, and already he was head over heels in love with her. Hell, he probably had been from the first day he’d set foot in her shop.

  They’d woken in the night for sex followed by a midnight snack, and this time they’d talked about his life. As he’d expected, she’d urged him to accept the job at the radio station. He’d promised to give it a try. Soon, he might be in a position for permanence in a relationship—he had a house that was almost done and a good potential job, if he could hack it. The relationship would have to be with Elsie, though. He simply didn’t want to imagine a future, a family, with anyone else.

  He hadn’t asked if her miscarriage had damaged her physically so she couldn’t have children, or if her misgivings were psychological. It didn’t matter. He’d rather have Elsie than a houseful of kids. Maybe, after a few years, she’d be interested in adopting. He liked that idea. He’d seen so many orphaned kids in the Middle East. It would do his heart good to help take care of a couple here in the States. He’d have to wait before broaching that subject to Elsie, though. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off from their burgeoning relationship.