by Emily Snow
“I love you too.” Ava’s gray eyes never left his as she kissed the inside of his wrist. “This feels different,” she told him as he took a step closer to her so that their bodies touched.
“It is different. How it should have been all along.”
He removed her clothes slowly, his fingertips carefully skimming over her flat stomach and her full breasts as he lifted her flimsy nightgown over her head. When he dropped it to the floor, she sucked in a breath. “Cold?” he asked, grinning, and she shook her head.
“Not cold.” She tugged him closer to her by the belt loop of his jeans. Standing on her toes, she pressed her mouth to his, her lips forming into a slow, seductive smile. “Make love to me, Knox. Please?”
Gazing down at her, he couldn't remember ever wanting anything or anyone more than he wanted Ava Lowry at this very moment. He had never loved someone as much as much as he loved her, and he wanted to kick himself for waiting so long to tell her that. Knowing that he’d almost let her slip right through his fingers left him feeling like all the air was being sucked out of his lungs.
“Please,” she repeated once more.
“Alright,” he said, his voice low as he dipped his fingers under the elastic of her panties. When his fingertips stroked her sex, she shuddered against him, gripping his shoulders tightly. “You’re already wet,” he mused, feeling a jolt of pleasure when her skin flushed beneath his stare. Kneeling in front of her, he slid her panties down her legs, stopping more than once to kiss the insides of her thighs, her smooth knees, and her ankles. When he stood, he noted her satisfied smirk.
“Kiss me, Knox.”
He brought his mouth to hers, claiming her lips and tongue as his own as she wrapped her long legs around his waist. He released a groan when he felt her hand between their bodies and a moment later, her fingers slid his zipper down to stroke his erection.
“You make it hard as hell to take this slow and easy,” he growled, and she laughed against his lips.
“That was the point. I want you. I want to make up for everything we’ve missed and every second we should have spent doing this.”
“We have been doing this,” he teased and she gave his dark hair a light tug.
“Doing this the right way, you ass.”
Between kisses and soft strokes of their fingers, they managed to remove his clothes in fifteen seconds flat before they fell back onto her plush bed, kicking the blankets out of the way as they moved up toward the headboard. He had every intention of following through with his plan to take her slow and steady, but the moment she grabbed his cock and slid it against her sex, slow and steady flew right out of the window.
“Peer pressure is a bitch. You know that, don’t you?” he asked as he rolled her over on her stomach. Giving her ass a little slap that left her gasping, he pushed into her body with one quick thrust. She moaned into her pillow. When he reached between them to thumb her clit, she cried out and wiggled her ass against him.
“Jesus, you feel amazing,” he murmured as he moved his hand from her clit to the headboard and gripped her hip with his other hand. “You feel so right.”
Releasing a cry from the back of her throat, she rocked her hips against his, meeting his thrusts and making her poor bed squeak beneath them. He let go of her headboard and tangled his fingers into her blond hair, turning her head slightly so his mouth could meet hers. He kissed her, worshiped her, until the orgasm hit, and she was left a trembling, whimpering mess beneath him.
And when they were finally finished, and the only sounds that filled the room were those of their breathing, she slept for the first time in months.
She slept knowing that the man she’d loved for years, the man she’d avoided for months, loved her.
-The End-
Static Line
Dawne Walters
A three-hour flight.
Sitting next to a guy who wouldn’t shut the fuck up.
Oh God. She was turning into Conrad.
She had certainly adopted his potty mouth.
“...so I says, ya know…I says that I couldn’t possibly take advantage…” the man kept on.
Addie sat there listening like she was genuinely interested, nodding when she need to, smiling and raising her eyebrows at what he thought were interesting parts. They were only thirty minutes into this flight but, as long as the guy didn’t raise his arms, gesturing wildly like he had before they took off, she wouldn’t have to hide the gagging reflex that hit from his smell. For a rather skinny guy, he wasn’t very well kept.
She knew better than to sit in the window seat. You get trapped. Finally, after another twenty minutes the guy excused himself to use the latrine. Thank God! Addie took the airline pillow from her lap and pushed it up against the side of the plane and leaned into it so that she could still look out of the window. Pulling Conrad’s jacket around her shoulders a little closer, she breathed in his scent.
God, she missed him. They were six months into a yearlong deployment. It wasn’t so bad when he’d left for Italy after they’d just gotten to know each other. There wasn’t as strong an attachment. But now? It felt like torture. She knew it would be harder being a wife to a deployed soldier. Especially one that was infantry and went on patrols regularly. The communications blackouts, when Soldiers got killed, and then the waiting. Oh fucking hell, the waiting.
Closing her eyes, she thought back to when Conrad left for Afghanistan...
“Hey sugartits, come here and give your barrel chested freedom fighter another kiss.”
She’d rolled her eyes at his nickname of her that he used more often lately, but wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry...started in repeat in her head. His arms were tight around her, holding her close. His lips kissed the top her head over and over as he held her.
“Hey...Ad, where’s my hugs and kisses,” Nathan asked, joking around to lighten the mood.
“Fuck off douche canoe,” Conrad said. “Go find your own wife.”
Nathan chuckled, “It’s all good man. Just trying to cheer Addie up.”
Addie only moved her eyes to see Nathan looking at her with his bottom lip plumped out looking sad. She smiled and winked, not wanting to let go of Conrad.
“I get it Ads. It’s okay. I’ll take care of him,” Nathan said, rubbing her shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze.
“Alright...let’s load up on the buses!” The Sergeant Major yelled from in front of the Battalion building. “Five minutes girls!”
Conrad pulled back from Addie just a few inches and lifted her chin with his fingers so that his mouth could claim hers in an all-out assault of passion. He took and tasted, putting the next six months in that kiss when he knew he was going to see her again.
After a few minutes he pulled away giving her soft kisses on her lips, but his arms held her tight against him.
“I’m gonna miss you sugar.”
“I’m gonna miss you more,” Addie said, trying not to cry. “I think it’s easier to be deployed than it is to be at home.”
“True. But, I’m glad that I’m coming home to you.” He smiled and kissed her one more time.
“Love you Mr. Renner.”
“Love you Mrs. Renner.”
“Come home to me safely and in one piece,” Addie said, the tears now falling down her cheeks.
“I’m too fucking ornery to come home any other way.” He smiled at her, wiping the tears off her cheeks.
“Let’s go gentlemen!” The Sergeant Major yelled by the busses now.
“See you later then,” Addie whispered.
“You know it sugartits.” Conrad kissed her one more time and let her go.
Addie watched as Nathan handed him his M4 rifle and Conrad stood by the bus door to let his platoon load first. Then he winked at his wife and loaded the bus. He was calling off names from a list as the doors started to close and the bus started. Each man would tell out that he was there or didn’t want
to be. When Conrad got over to his seat, he looked out the window and mouthed ‘love you’ to Addie, and put two fingers to his lips to blow her a kiss. She did it back and the bus rolled away.
The day Conrad proposed, he’d moved into her apartment that night, where they immediately bought new leather sofas as a couple. Her mattresses were what she’d called virgins, having only had Conrad sleep on them, but he’d insisted that they needed a king size bed. He’d taken his TV of course, and all of his electronics that she swore she needed a college degree to know how to turn it all on, and gotten rid of Addie’s tiny one. It was all quite cozy now and went from his or hers to theirs.
The first week of Conrad’s deployment was the hardest. If anything went wrong, it went big. The dishwasher water line broke and maintenance had to be called. Since she was at work when it happened and the neighbors downstairs had water damage, she had to take time off and come home to soggy carpet. So, all of the furniture in the dining room had to be shifted around until the workers were done cleaning everything and putting new carpet out.
Then one of her tires went flat on her car after one of the rainiest weeks with flooding that Fort Polk had in years. She’d pulled over on the side of the road and called roadside assistance, but they sent a wrecker instead. That wasn’t the worst part though. The guy put her car in neutral, on a road that had a bit of a downward slope. When he was ready to hook her car up, he had leaned on the hood in order to get under it. Therefore pushing the car back, where it slid into a six foot ditch full of water. Now, her car not only had a flat tire, but was submerged over the hood of the engine compartment. The wrecking company sent out another wrecker to help get her car out of the ditch so that Addie could at least get her water logged purse...and her wet phone. That whole event took another three hours.
Wednesday and Thursday were okay days. She’d salvaged anything in her purse, but had to get a new phone. She’d taken Conrad’s truck to work, which made her even more emotional because it smelled like him. Liz, her Lead at work had taken her out to lunch, because her husband was deployed too and tried to comfort her and tell her that the first week was the hardest.
Friday started out good, but then a call from the insurance said that not only was her car was totaled...but the wrecking company was blaming her for stopping on a road that made her car slide backwards into a ditch. After getting the police report because, yes, embarrassingly enough, they were there too. The insurance company sided with her and wrote off her car with her GAP insurance. She’d shop for a car when Conrad came home. No sense in having to cars and one driver.
What really sent her spiraling down into the depths of despair was a Facebook post on Conrad’s wall of a smiling Lisa and a little boy with dark brown hair and deep brown eyes with the caption, ‘I didn’t know you had such a gorgeous little guy...Congrats.’ It was posted by one of the girls that worked at the Messo back in Fort Bragg. The Messo was a BDSM club that Conrad used to belong to.
Conrad had assured Addie that he’d deleted a lot of people that were in Fort Bragg that he didn’t talk to anymore. But this, Carrie Richards…was one of the gals that Conrad was friends with, although they never hooked up or scene’d with. Looking through the comments, Conrad’s sister, Kerry had come to his defense saying that the little boy was NOT his son, that it was a way for Lisa to trap Conrad into marriage or whatever, but she’d asked for the picture to be taken down because her brother was deployed. Her comment was five minutes ago.
She drove home and parked in the spot Conrad always did, at the end, so no one could hit his truck. She grabbed her purse and work bag and walked up the stairs. After locking the apartment door, she’d dropped her purse and bag on the floor and slipped out of her shoes. Taking a look around, she wondered if he’d lied to her. If the condom really did brake and he didn’t just flush it down the toilet. Or maybe, just maybe he didn’t use one at all. He’d never used one with her. She wondered if he was just trying to placate her. She sat on the leather sofa where she and Conrad had make love so many times and leaned back into the soft cool leather for a few minutes.
Sitting up, she grabbed her laptop off of the coffee table and opened it, logging on to her Facebook account. It should be called Dramabook for all that happened on there, seemed to be nothing but drama surrounding it lately. Clicking on Conrad’s profile page, she saw that Jessica, her friend and receptionist from Fort Bragg had posted under the picture as well. ‘That bitch Lisa is nothing but a Drama Queen!! That kid belongs to Wayne Huggins, he’s on his DEERS and he’s paying child support. That kid isn't Conrad’s any more than I’m his wife!!’
Although that made her feel better, the picture was still there and it wasn’t a great reminder of the fact that she still hadn’t heard from Conrad. Scrolling through her feed, she saw that other wives had heard from their husbands a few different times and were super excited. Addie put the laptop back on the coffee table and decided to make a sandwich when the gallon of milk decided to take a tumble and spill on the floor.
FUCKING HELL!
She couldn’t seem to catch a break. After cleaning that mess, she ate her sandwich, went in and closed the laptop and decided to go to bed. It was Friday...she wasn’t going anywhere.
It was after two in the morning when her phone started ringing. The screen showed an ‘unknown’ phone number. She almost didn’t answer it. But then at the last minute decided to.
“Hello?”
After a long pause, “Addie...is that you sugartits?”
Conrad!
The tears immediately started. “Conrad. Ohmygod.”
“You okay?” He asked.
“Yeah, tough week,” she answered.
“It’s been busy here too baby. I don’t have much time, we’re getting ready to roll out to our FOB soon and it’ll be a little bit before we get coms to talk again. But, I don’t want you to worry. I’ll be okay,” Conrad said.
The sobs came then. She couldn’t keep them back. “I know.”
“Aww, come on baby, don’t cry,” Conrad soothed her. “I hate it when you cry and I’m not there.” There was another long pause. “Tell me how your week was.”
“You don’t want to know,” Addie answered, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.
“Yes, I do.”
“The water line for the dishwasher exploded, flooding the dining room and the people downstairs, my car got a flat, and the insurance folks sent a wrecker and he pushed it into the ravine that was full of water, so it’s totaled. And today I learned that Lisa is parading her kid around as yours. It’s been a shit week Conrad...” she started to cry again, “I want you to come home. I can’t handle this shit.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Conrad said, soothing her. “I’ll be home in six months and we’ll spend Christmas with my Pop, Jeff, Kerry and Roger. The first week is the worst babe. It’ll be okay. As for Lisa, I heard about that from Nathan. Baby, we talked about this. I don’t have any kids, that’s not mine.”
“I know...but it’s so frustrating to see that she’s doing that.” Addie wiped her nose.
“Just ignore it babe. We know the truth. I’ll have it taken down,” Conrad said. “So...what’re you wearing?”
“Size five X sweats and grandma panties,” Addie answered.
“Ew, so not sexy.”
“Yeah, can’t have you sporting a boner while you’re deployed.”
“Good point.” Conrad answered. There was commotion in the background. “Babe, I gotta go, we are loading up. As soon as we have coms, I’ll call or email you. Love you baby.”
“Love you more.”
“That isn’t possible Addie. My love for you…” he started, but didn’t finish. “Gotta go. Smooches.”
Then the phone went dead.
It wasn’t for two weeks that Addie had heard from Conrad. He’d posted a picture on his Facebook and tagged her. There were two regular size Pringles cans that had a Post It note on each one that read, ‘SFC Pringles’ and ‘Mrs. Pringles.’ The
re were three snack size Pringles cans in front with Post It notes on them that each read ‘Baby Pringles.’ He’d captioned it ‘Love you Sugartits...’ For the first time in about three weeks, Addie really and truly laughed.
There were the usual emails that talked of their day and going on and the occasional phone call. He was able to Skype with her a few times too, but the internet connection in the area that he was at in Afghanistan made it difficult. What made Addie happy was the possibility of Conrad coming home for Christmas that she had clung to. Her parents were going to see her brother’s family in Germany, where he was stationed, so Addie accepted her father in-laws invitation to have her come out for Christmas so that she wasn’t alone. He’d said that if Conrad could come home to, well that was just bonus.
Kerry announced that she was finally into her second trimester and was really excited to announce that she was pregnant with a little girl. So, she told Addie to come visit over Christmas too and they could go baby shopping. She had another ultrasound and wanted her to be there with Roger, Keith and Jeff too. Addie was going to video the event for Conrad.
The dates still weren’t solid, but it was going to be a few days before Christmas or Christmas day that he flew in, for two weeks. So, she’d went through the motions and packed a few things for Conrad just in case he came home. He said he’d take her out to shop for his family when he got home.
So, here she was. On an airplane with a chatty ass, smelly fucker on her way to Pittsburgh. Keith, her father in law, had told her that he and Jeff would pick her up at the airport and get her settled in. Kerry and Roger were going to come over for dinner tonight to see her too. The Steelers were playing after Christmas, so they were all set to go to the game as well. It would be her first ever NFL game.
Afraid to open her eyes to give the guy next to her hope that she wanted to talk, she actually fell asleep until the Captain announced that they were making their initial decent into Pittsburgh International. She straightened up, but kept her attention out the window as much as she could so as not to give chatty-stinky a chance to start up again. Landing without a hitch, and making it off the plane and to baggage, she spotted Keith and Jeff.