by Natalie Ann
“Hi, Mom,” Amber said, opening the back door into the kitchen. Her mother was cleaning like she normally did on Saturday.
“Amber,” her mother said, then went back to cleaning.
Wonderful, it was already going to begin. “Do you and Dad have plans tonight?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Why?”
“Zach would like to take you to dinner. We’d like to take you to dinner tonight.”
“You know what my answer is going to be, so why ask?”
“I don’t understand. Why is your answer no? What has Zach done that you are so against having dinner with him?”
Her mother turned and put her hands on her hips. “You are having a sexual relationship outside of marriage. Everyone knows. Everyone is talking about how he is staying at your house. It’s an embarrassment to me and everything your father and I stand for. I will not have dinner with you and him and condone this relationship.”
She felt her eyes fill with tears, but pushed them back. “Zach is the best guy I’ve ever dated. He’s successful, he’s nice and sweet, and he treats me well, but you don’t care about that. All you care about is how it reflects on you.”
Her mother snorted. “Don’t take that tone with me. We’ve been over this before, plenty of times. I don’t know why you think my opinion is ever going to change.”
“So you won’t accept any man I bring home, or any man I might marry, then?”
“If you conduct yourself the way you always have, then it’s hard for me to accept someone.”
“You can’t give an inch, can you? Do you think Sally went to her wedding day as a virgin? I can assure you she didn’t.”
Her mother drew herself up straight. “I know nothing of the sort. Sally was home every night like she should have been. If she did what you’re saying, then she has to live with that lie.”
Amber laughed. “A lie? How is it a lie? Did you ever even ask her, or did you just turn a blind eye, hoping that since no one brought it to your attention that she was being a good girl like you always wanted? That because she was home every night, and sex can only be done at night in your world, that she was pure?”
“Don’t bring your sister into your behavior. You made your bed, you can lie in it. I’m not going to stop loving you because of the decisions you made in life, but I’m not going to pretend I agree or accept them.”
“Yeah, love. I guess we look at it in different ways.”
Amber turned and left the kitchen and got in her car. She was a block away when she saw her father outside of the church and pulled into the parking lot. She didn’t think she would get any further with him, but wanted to give it a shot.
“Amber. What are you doing here? I thought your friend was in town.”
So both her parents were aware. No surprise there.
“He is. Zach would like to take you and Mom to dinner, but Mom refused.”
Her father shook his head. “You know how your mother feels about these things.”
“Do you feel the same way?” She and her father had never had this conversation explicitly, him always avoiding it and letting her mother deal with it. But she wasn’t a child anymore.
Her father hesitated, looked uncomfortable, but finally said, “I haven’t always agreed with the choices you’ve made in life. I don’t always agree with the ones you are making now. But you have to live with those choices, not me and not your mother.”
“She doesn’t feel that way.”
“I can’t control or change your mother’s mind. You know it’s always bothered her to be talked about,” her father said.
“And we know there was a lot of gossip about me as a kid.”
“You weren’t that bad of a kid, Amber. I don’t care what anyone says. You turned out just fine. And your mother knows that and loves you regardless.”
“But she wishes I was more like her.”
Her father reached out and took her hand and held it in his. He didn’t often touch her, and she wondered why he was now.
“I want you to be like you. I want you to be the person you are. You’ve had a mind of your own since the day you were born, but under it all we’ve instilled good values in you. Your mother wants you happy, whether you believe it or not.”
“Just on her terms,” Amber said.
“I guess. But you’re an adult.”
“Mom doesn’t treat me as such.”
“Sure she does. She isn’t saying anything more than she doesn’t accept your behavior, but she isn’t telling you to change it. She isn’t lecturing you like she did when you were a kid.”
That was a joke. The lectures weren’t as long, but the few sentences felt the same. “It never did any good back then.”
“And it doesn’t right now, either,” her father said.
Her eyes filled again. “I don’t know why I bother to try.”
“Because you want acceptance. I know that, but I’m afraid you aren’t going to get it from your mother.”
“What about you?”
“I accept who you are. All I want you to do is be happy in life.”
“Even if it isn’t with the same beliefs as you?”
“You’ve got the same beliefs deep down where it counts. I know it and so does your mother.”
“I don’t suppose you would come to dinner with us tonight without Mom?” Amber asked.
“I’d like to, but I wouldn’t do that to your mother. Maybe in time.”
“I don’t know what I can do to change her mind.”
“Right now, nothing. It’s nothing personal against Zach. He seems like a very nice man.”
“He is,” Amber said, agreeing.
She left her father after that and went to pick Zach up at the hospital, which gave her plenty of time to compose herself.
“How did it go?” Zach asked her.
“About like I expected,” she said, forcing a smile.
“So no company for dinner tonight?”
“No. My father would, which actually surprised me, but he won’t go against my mother right now and I don’t want to be the knife that is driven between them again. It’s fine.”
“Is there anything I can do to get them to like me?” Zach asked, grinning.
“It’s not you. It’s me. And don’t let it bother you.”
“Everyone likes me, Amber. And they will, too,” Zach said, giving her a quick kiss.
“Maybe someday. But when it comes down to it, you should only care about my feelings toward you.”
“I do,” he said. “Are you going to tell me what they are?”
“I think I’ve had enough emotional upheaval today,” she said, grinning. “For now, let’s get through the rest of today and tomorrow. Just the two of us. No worries or thoughts of anyone else.”
“I can get behind that one hundred percent!”
Make It Special
So he took her to dinner that night, just the two of them, and made it as special as possible.
“Candlelight and wine,” she said. “How did you know I’d be a sucker for that?”
“Lucky guess,” he said, sipping his tonic. He didn’t want her worrying about anything tonight. Nothing at all. She’d had a bad morning and it was all because of him and his visit, so the least he could do was make it up to her.
“You know, it’s only about a half mile to my house. You can drink if you want and we can walk home.”
He shook his head. “You relax. I’m good just like this.”
“I’ve got wine at home that we could both have,” she said.
“Are you going to get drunk tonight?” he asked, eying her sharply.
“Never. I don’t get drunk anymore. Tipsy maybe, but when I start to feel that way, I stop.”
“How about you start to feel that way so I can take advantage of you tonight?”
She wiggled her eyebrows a little, then picked up her wine and smiled. “I might just do that and let you have your way with me.”
His jeans started t
o get uncomfortable under the table. He shouldn’t have started this conversation here with her, with witnesses and no way for him to get his hands on her. Because right now, the look in her eye, the flirty toss of her hair, and her tongue tracing her lower lip was enough to send him outside for some air to cool down.
“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we dance?” she asked and set her wine down.
He looked around the restaurant. They were in the corner out of the way and there was music playing but nowhere they could really dance.
“Where?”
She stood up and held her hand out to his. “Right here next to the table. Or are you too chicken to put your hands on me…afraid people will think we’re nuts?”
“Most people think I’m crazy as it is.”
“Same here,” she said, then pulled him up and wound her arms around his neck, fitting her body closely with his, then swaying with him to the soft music being piped in.
“People are looking at us,” he whispered, then pulled her earlobe into his mouth. “Do you want to give them something to really talk about?”
“I’ve been talked about most of my life, Zach. This is nothing new.”
He wished he hadn’t said that. Hadn’t brought up a sensitive topic just now. The last thing he wanted to do was put a downer on their night.
“It’s a club we both have a membership in then.”
They continued to dance for a minute, then their dinner arrived. He was slightly disappointed in that, wanting to continue to hold her in his arms.
They ate their dinner and talked about anything other than her family, his family, their work, or the weather. Instead it was movies, shows, vacation spots, and funny college stories.
She did indeed have a second glass of wine while he stuck to his tonic; then they made their way back to her house, detouring to the liquor store on the way.
“I’ve got wine at home,” she said.
“But do you have champagne?”
“Sorry, I drank the last of it the other night after work,” she said.
He tweaked her nose, jumped out of the car after he parked it, and ran in quick. He asked the clerk to point him to the selection of champagne, found a bottle of his favorite, paid, and ran back to the car. “Now we’re good to go.”
“I’ve been good for a while. You’re kind of slow tonight, aren’t you?”
“Not really. Just want to make it special.”
“That’s sweet, Zach,” she said. “But just spending time with you is special enough.”
He couldn’t remember anyone ever saying something as simple as that to him.
Once back at Amber’s, they shed their jackets and he was getting ready to reach for her and pull her into his arms, when she turned aside and dashed ahead.
“Since you bought champagne, we need a fire.”
He eyed the old fireplace and wondered how this was going to turn out. He wasn’t exactly a boy scout growing up. “We don’t need to worry about that. I’ll keep you warm enough.”
“I don’t doubt it, but it’ll be nice and romantic.”
Before he knew it, she was stacking the wood and grabbing paper and matches, and rather than feel inferior standing there watching her, he walked into her kitchen and got two glasses for the champagne. Luckily the liquor store had a few bottles chilling already. He hadn’t expected to find that.
When he came back carrying the two glasses, the fire was starting to catch. “Well, now we know which one of us would save the other if we ever got lost in the woods.”
She reached for her glass. “You can’t live in Lake Placid and not know how to start a fire, Zach.”
“Why’s that?”
“We lose power here a lot in the winter. At least once or twice a year with a hard snowstorm. When I was in college, there was a massive ice storm knocking power out for days all along northern New York and Canada.”
“What did you do?” he asked, horrified.
“We had fireplaces for heat and cooked over them. Most houses have fireplaces in Lake Placid, and multiple ones in each home. A lot of houses have generators hooked up to them too, but not all.”
“Do you?” he asked, looking around. Not that he even knew what to look for.
“No. My landlords don’t have one. I never had one growing up either. No worries, I’m pretty tough.”
He was glad she was, but he wasn’t so much.
“Enough about my shortcomings and your super skills.”
She laughed. “There are plenty of skills that you’re super at.”
Good to know. “Let me show them to you then,” he said, taking her glass out of her hand. She’d lit the fire and he felt the least he could do was try to utilize the atmosphere of it all.
Finding a blanket on her couch, he opened it up and laid it on the floor. She walked over and grabbed some cushions and pillows off the couch. “Might as well get comfortable. We’ve been on this floor before.”
Right again. Lifting his hands, he cradled her face then lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her gently, softly, trying to treasure her the best he could. She deserved it. She deserved the best life had to give and he wanted to be the one to give it all to her.
Her lips were soft, tasting of the champagne they’d both been sipping. Her body lush, rubbing against him. Her hands moving over his shoulders and down his back, her urgency feeding his.
“I don’t want to rush this. We always seem to rush. Let’s take it slow for once.”
She nodded her head, then leaned in to kiss him again. Together they stood there, kissing and touching, feeling each other through their clothes with the fire crackling in the background.
Atmosphere was a pretty awesome thing, he thought.
When it seemed neither of them could take another minute of it, he leaned back and started to unbutton her shirt one button at a time. Slowly drawing it out, teasing them both. His knuckles dragging down between her breasts before finally pushing the shirt off her shoulders.
Red again. She had another red bra on. She was something else. “For me?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Is it another matching set?”
“I guess you will have to find out.”
Forcing himself to slow down, he inched closer to her, his mouth caressing her neck, her collarbone, her shoulders, and then the cleavage peeking out of the lace material currently covering her luscious curves.
Her nipples were pebbling through the material, teasing him, begging him in their own silent way for more. He couldn’t leave them waiting. No, that wouldn’t be right. So he moved his lips over and pulled one into his mouth through the lace, sucking hard, making her moan and grip his head.
“You have such a way with your mouth,” she said.
Rather than reply, he shifted his lips to the other side and did the same. Going back and forth again and again.
“Zach,” she said, but he didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to stop. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do and bring them both to a place he only seemed to be able to reach with her.
Her hands went to his waist, then under his sweater and started to lift it. He let her do it, feeling his own body heating up.
Since she was progressing with the removal of clothing, he decided to one up her and attack her jeans, but not before his fingertips traced around her waist, dipping in and out, just playing with her a little. Why? Because he had to.
And when he finally unbuttoned her jeans, lowered the zipper and then parted them, he saw that she did indeed have red lace panties on, matching her bra. There was no way he was letting her jeans stay on after having seeing that.
“No thong this time,” she said when her jeans were removed.
“Not a problem. I’m a connoisseur of all women’s panties.”
“You’re too funny, Zach. Connoisseur, huh?”
“Find a man who doesn’t like women’s panties and I’ll tell you he isn’t into women.”
She just sighed and then
laughed. “Continue on with what you were doing, please.”
“Gladly. Let’s lie down,” he suggested.
Once on the blanket, he quickly shed his own jeans, wanting to have as much bodily contact with her as possible. Skin to skin, flesh to flesh, their body heat scorching them both.
As much as he wanted to slow down, he found it was so hard to do with her. He’d get this far and his body would take over, wanting it all at once.
But he dug deep within himself, rolled away from her, and found his condom in his jeans, then tossed it on the floor by them rather than ripping right into it like he wanted.
He scooted down her body, his tongue making a path right to the red lace beckoning him. With his hands sliding around her waist, he eased them over her hips, down her thighs, and out of the way.
There it was. What he was waiting for. Just calling his name. He’d never turned away from anything that called his name.
Dipping his head down, he went to work. Tasting her, touching her, feeding off of her, making her beg, then making her come. His name ripped from her throat, her hands scoring his shoulders.
But did he stop? No, he didn’t. He kept going at it, bringing her there once again, making her shout out a second time. Then when her voice sounded hoarse, he slid off his boxers, found the condom and slid right inside of her.
She was slick and smooth, but her muscles were still contracting and pulling him in, making it hard for him to hold off.
“Don’t move,” he told her.
“I’m not, but I want to.”
He couldn’t deny her. Not this, not when they both wanted the same thing. “Do what you want. Take me there with you.”
So she did. Bucking her hips up hard and fast, drawing him in, winding him up, and spinning him out.
“Wow,” she said a minute later. He was still on top of her and probably squishing her, but he had no energy to move.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I told you the fireplace would be worth it.”
She was worth it, but he didn’t say that out loud.
Same Thoughts
“I can’t believe you,” Amber said, reaching for the box that Zach had brought out of her room. She didn’t even know where he’d had it hidden.