by Josie Kerr
She touched herself as motivation for Mick to disrobe, her sex tender from Mick’s earlier enthusiastic attention. She winced a bit but hoped that Mick wouldn’t notice.
“Did I hurt you?” Mick’s fingers froze on his fly and his face clouded.
“You didn’t hurt me at all. I’ve never felt better.” She kneeled on the bed and pulled him to her. “You’re still overdressed, sugar. Let me help you.” She got rid of Mick’s pants and boxer briefs in record time. “Now we’re even.”
Em eyed his erection jutting from the edge of his shirt. She motioned him to come closer to the bed. She ran her hands across his hips and placed a kiss on the head, flicking his slit with her tongue, tasting the salty flavor of his arousal. Em finished unbuttoning her blouse. She shrugged it off her shoulders and tossed it on the floor. She wore only her bra.
She knew her body wasn’t perfect, but tried to appreciate the fact that Mick hadn’t remarked on it earlier. Em hoped he would be too preoccupied with the swirling tattoos on her hips and her other bits to pay attention to her imperfections.
Em took a deep breath and removed her bra. She lay back on the bed, completely naked. Mick drank her with his eyes. Her lush breasts heaved with each breath, the rosy areolas the size of half dollars. She rested back on her elbows, one knee bent and her legs open so he could see all of her. The pose of her body seemed confident and relaxed, but Em’s expression betrayed her insecurity.
Mick’s eyes took in every bit her naked skin. His eyes traveled over her heavy breasts and over her soft belly and hips.
“I know I’m probably not what you’re used to seeing,” she said softly.
Mick huffed a laugh. It had been over 20 years since he had seen a naked woman in person, and Em’s body was just that: womanly. Her voluptuous curves were beautiful.
“I sees what I likes and I likes what I sees, Em,” he reassured her, but didn’t move from the end of the bed.
Em frowned and sat up, covering herself with a pillow. “Hey, sugar, what’s wrong? Please tell me.”
Mick continued to stand motionless. Em got up and went to him. She led him over to his bed. “Please, let me see all of you, Michael. I want to look at you the way you’re looking at me. Please.”
Mick’s eyes were locked on Em’s as he removed his shirt and dropped it with the other clothes on the bedroom floor. Em got off the bed and slowly walked around him, putting her hands on his torso, touching his tattoos. Her hands drifted across the swoops of the large black tattoo that covered his back. Up close, she could see the probable source of his trepidation. Tears welled in her eyes.
“Mick, what are these marks, sweetheart?” Her fingers drifted over the indented and puckered flesh.
“They’re exactly what they look like, Em.” His voice was quiet but bitter.
“What they look like are scars and burns, Mick. Who did this to you?” Her voice wavered as she examined his back more closely. When he didn’t answer, she kissed every scar and welt on his back, and when she wasn’t tall enough to reach, she transferred her kisses to her fingers and pressed them to the marks.
She stepped in front of him. She ran her fingers over the tattooed portrait that covered his ribcage: a pregnant Grace holding babies. On Mick’s left pectoral were the names of his dead.
Em looked at Mick and asked, “May I?” Mick nodded. Em kissed the portrait of Grace, then the babies and Grace’s bump. Finally, she kissed each of the memorial names that decorated his chest.
Em looked up to Mick’s face to see silent tears coursing down his cheeks. She forced him to sit on the bed and held him to her, stroking his head as sobs wracked his body. When he quieted, he pulled her to him, covering them both with the quilt. Em kissed Mick’s mouth, his teary eyes, and his strong jaw as she gathered him into her arms to sleep. As she drifted off, she heard Mick’s prayer of thanks.
Chapter 28
When Em returned to the bed after an early morning trip to the restroom, she found Mick looking at her with a lazy hunger.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, slipping back into the bed and nestling into his chest.
“You didn’t. I was waiting for you to wake up so I could thank you.”
“I should be the one thanking you, Mick. That thing you did to me, against the wall and on the couch? That was incredible.”
Mick chuckled. “It was my pleasure. But I think you know that’s not why I’m thanking you.”
Em’s only reply was to kiss Mick’s jaw.
“’B’y, that’s so nice,” he murmured, rubbing his hands over her bare back. Em looped an arm around his neck, but then pulled it back to her side. Mick cocked his head at her, trying to figure out what was going through her head. He lifted her arm back around his shoulder and softly kissed the striated stretchmarks there.
“Are these what you’re self-conscious about?” he murmured, his lips softly brushing her arm.
Em didn’t say a word as Mick kicked off all the covers and scooted back a bit to take all of her in. He peppered kisses across her belly and thighs while caressing her bottom and making appreciative noises. His fingers danced across the trimmed triangle of hair that covered her sex before he placed a soft kiss on her mound. Kissing his way up her body, Mick finally settled back into the pillows, pulling Em close and continuing to pet and explore her with his hands and mouth.
Em pulled back and looked him in the eyes. “We should do exactly this for as long as we need to. You know there’s no pressure to do anything more, right?” Her fingers drifted over his bearded jaw to touch his soft mouth.
Mick caught her fingers in his hand and brought them to his lips. “I know. But maybe I want to do something more.”
He kissed her softly on the mouth, his hands on the side of her face. Murmuring soothing nonsense syllables into her neck as he kissed her, his hands moved over her breasts to thumb her nipples. Em purred with desire and arched her back into him, thrusting out her breasts to give him easier access to them.
Mick rolled to his back, pulling Em on top of him. His hands wandered down over her hips and over her shapely bottom. She tilted her hips over him and he sucked in a hissed breath.
Em sat up on the bed, straddling his body. His hands moved over her breasts, plucking the nipples and making them bead to hard points. She put her hands on his chest and ran them over his pecs and down to his hard abs. She leaned down over him to kiss his neck, then down to lightly bite at his nipple. Mick’s hands roamed over her back and ass while Em sucked one nipple and then the other.
Mick groaned with need. “Before this goes further, let me get something.” Mick rolled his upper body over to open the nightstand drawer. He pulled out two boxes of condoms.
“Um, wow. Planning on being busy?” Em said, stifling a snicker.
Mick made a face. “Do you have a preference?” he asked, waving the boxes in the air.
“Lemme see. Ooh, nice, big boy condoms. But not these,” she said, leaning over him to put one box on the nightstand. “I’m allergic to the spermicide. That’s absolutely no fun.”
“Okay, no spermicide. Good to know.” Mick flushed under his beard, his neck getting red. “I hope I wasn’t being presumptuous.” Mick wouldn’t meet her eyes.
“Sugar, I’m naked in your bed, sitting on top of you. I don’t think you’re being presumptuous at all,” Em laughed.
“Look at me, Mick.” Mick met Em’s eyes. “We don’t have to do this. We can take it as slow as you feel comfortable with, okay?” Em kissed Mick softly on the mouth, tugging his bottom lip between her teeth. She ran her hands over his pecs, smoothing the hair there.
Mick rolled her off of him and pulled her to his side. Propping himself up on one arm, his other hand wandered back to her hips, tracing the tattoos on them. “I’ll be honest, Em. It’s been a long, long time.” His voice trailed off.
“Um, exactly how long are we talking here, Mick?” Em asked, continuing to run her fingers through his chest hair.
�
�How long has it been for you?” he deflected.
“Since I had sex with another person?” she asked. Mick huffed a laugh, thinking about the toy he’d found in her bathroom. “Three years. And no, I didn’t really end things with Tripp until about a year ago, but he hadn’t touched me in over two years before that.”
“He’s a fool, Em,” Mick said softly, giving her shoulders a soft squeeze. “Such a goddamn, fucking fool.” He was quiet a moment while he placed a soft kiss on her head. “As for me—well, Nevermind had just come out, and I remember thinking it was a great album to fuck to.”
“Twenty years?” she said in disbelief. “This,” she waved her hands over his body, “has gone 20 years without a woman?”
“Is that a problem? It’s not like I’m completely inexperienced.” Mick frowned, and he wasn’t sure, but he thought he might need to be offended.
“Mick, honey, what you did to me earlier? If you’d been more expert at it, I seriously think I would have lost consciousness. Plus, look at you! You must have had women throwing themselves at you for the past two decades!”
“I was in no mental shape for any kind of intimacy for a long, long time, Em.” Mick sighed, and closed his eyes. “In fact, you’re the first person that I’ve done more than peck on the cheek since Grace passed away. So I’m gonna ask you again: is it a problem?”
As an answer, Em pushed him back into the mattress and swung her leg to straddle him. She ground her hips against him, her wet folds caressing his hard length.
“No, sugar, it’s not a problem at all,” she whispered in his ear before she placed a soft, hot, open-mouthed kiss on his neck.
She smiled at him and Mick tangled his hands in her hair, holding her head still so he could look in her eyes. He cupped her face with his hands, while she continued to swivel on top of him.
“Let’s get you suited up, okay?” Em purred as she plucked a condom from the box and ripped the package open. She grinned impishly and put the condom in her mouth. She scooted down his body. With her ass in the air, she knelt down and took his cock in her hands. She placed her mouth over the swollen head as she used her lips to roll the condom down his rock-hard shaft, sucking him up and down. She released her mouth and stroked him, making sure the condom was securely in place.
Mick made a loud exhale. “Sweet Janey Mac, Em, I’m not going to last if you do much more of that.”
“Mick, sugar, that condom is really tight. Does it feel okay?”
“Yeah, I guess. I haven’t worn one in a long time, but yeah, it’s okay, I think.”
With a throaty laugh, Em raised herself up and guided him into her softness. She lowered herself slowly, taking him into her gradually, feeling him stretch her to her limits. She raised herself up, and then lowered herself again. The only sounds audible were those of their lovemaking and the small noises of pleasure that escaped both of them.
Mick watched her breasts bounce and shake as she shimmied against him. He leaned forward to nip at them while he rolled his hips beneath her. Em made a deeply contented noise as she rode him.
“God, you fill me up. I haven’t ever felt this full, Michael.”
Em’s face was serious as she gazed down at him, her brown eyes soft as she ran her fingers over his lips. He caught them between his teeth and playfully nipped at the pads. He moved a hand from her hips to roll her sensitive nub with his thumb. Em suddenly shattered, calling his name and arching her back and bucking her hips in pleasure.
Mick rolled their still-connected bodies over, pushing her back into the mattress. Em wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him to her to kiss his mouth.
Mick moved one of her legs to his shoulder and lifted himself up to look at where his hard cock met her slick, wet core.
“Fuck,” he growled.
Em let out a low chuckle and arched her breasts toward his chest. Mick kept his eyes glued to their joining, slowly pushing deeper and deeper until he was firmly rooted inside her. He stopped his movement and searched Em’s lovely face. She grinned up at him and flexed her core, squeezing around him and eliciting a surprised chuckle from Mick.
“You okay, sugar?” Em asked. Mick nodded and she placed a soft kiss on his neck.
Em thrust her hips up to Mick. Unable to contain his need, he furiously pounded into Em’s flattened softness, pumping more quickly than Em thought was humanly possible. He roared as he came, groaning Em’s name in time with the hot spurts of his release. The walls of her core throbbed, milking him as he spent.
He gave her his full weight for a moment, wanting to get as close to her as possible, but then rolled off of her when she lightly tapped him on the back. He lay panting on the bed as Em crawled over him and put her head on his damp chest so that she could hear his still thundering heart. She stroked his chest hair and pressed her mouth to his pecs, clinging to him.
“You sure you’re all right, sugar?” Em asked, her own heart beating like a drum in her chest.
“Em, I think…”
“Yeah, I think so, too.”
Mick’s hand met Em’s on his cock, and they locked eyes.
“Fuck,” was all he could say. “FUCK!”
“Mick, hey, Mick, sweetheart. It’s okay. I can’t get pregnant. It’s not a possibility. Look at me, Mick.” Em put her hand on his face and turned it toward her. “I can’t get pregnant. You don’t have to worry.”
“You’re on the pill? Your tubes tied?”
“Something like that. Don’t worry, sugar.”
Mick sat on the edge of the bed and tore off the broken condom. He rested his head on his hands, elbows on his knees, chest heaving. Em wrapped her arms around his chest and kissed the side of his neck.
“Honey, where are your washrags?”
Mick got up and stalked to a linen closet inside the bathroom. Em shooed him back to bed and took her time running the washcloth under warm water, allowing him a moment to pull himself together.
After she cleaned him and herself up, Em crawled back in bed and wrapped herself around Mick. She kissed his cheek.
“After I found out that Tripp was unfaithful, I got tested, and everything came back fine. There’s been no one else since.”
Mick laughed, somewhat bitterly. “Well, you know my situation.”
“So what do you say that we don’t mess with the condoms, okay? Or at least, until you can get some double extra-large ones. I bet you can find some on the internet. We don’t have to do this again until you find something that you’re comfortable with.”
“Oh, but I want to do ‘this’ again, girlie. I actually kind of want to do ‘this’ again, right now.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He pointed at the tented sheet. “Really really.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?”
“You sure?”
“Are you sure, Mick?” she asked, her brown eyes searching his blue ones.
Mick chuckled. “Yeah, I’m good, Em. Give us a tiss, ducky.”
“I think I’m going to need a dictionary,” she said with a giggle.
“Em, give me your mouth.”
Smiling, she offered Mick her mouth, and he pulled her to him and kissed her sweetly.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face behind his ear as he rolled his body into hers.
Chapter 29
The noticeable absence of Em woke Mick mid-morning. After 20 minutes of hopeful lounging in the bed, the smell of coffee and other breakfasty things lured him into the kitchen.
Em was standing at the stove with a mug of coffee, looking very at home in one of his shirts, her hair mussed and her eyes still a bit sleepy behind her glasses. Her face lit up with a smile when she saw Mick emerge from the bedroom, wearing only a pair of gym pants, his hairy chest bare except for the designs inked on it.
Mick stopped in the doorway, just looking at her. It had been 20 years since he’d had a woman in his kitchen, wearing his clothes, making him food. It was ni
ce. It was right.
It scared him to death.
“What?” she asked as he leaned against the door jamb.
“You’re still a bad bit nice, even all mops and brooms,” Mick said as he pulled out a chair from the small kitchen table and sat down.
“Okay, that’s the second time you’ve said ‘bad bit nice’ and I think I know what that means, but I’ve no idea about the mops and brooms thing,” Em said.
“It means you’re beautiful, even with your hair all mussed and untidy.” Mick sighed contentedly and looked her over again, his eyes still heavy with sleep.
“That’s very sweet, Mick,” Em said. “Do you always wear so little around the house when you’re alone?” She waved a spatula at his long body. “You’re very tempting. I might have to have a bite of you.”
“No, I’m usually fully dressed, even with shoes, but this isn’t a typical morning.”
“How so?” Em slid some scrambled eggs onto a plate, along with a piece of toast.
“Because there’s a beautiful woman in my kitchen, cooking me breakfast,” Mick said with a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners again. God, she loved that.
“You’re so sweet. I’m definitely going to have to have a bite of you.”
Em leaned over to kiss him and put the plate down on the table.
“Is bedbeard a thing? Because I totally think you have bedbeard.” Em ran her hand over Mick’s rumpled jaw line.
“I think it’s a sign that I’m due for another trim,” Mick said, trying to smooth his beard.
“I don’t know. I definitely like the shorter haircut,” she said, running her hands over the now close-cropped hair above his ears and the along the back of his head, “but the beard? I like that longer. I also like the way it feels on my...everything.” Em waggled her eyebrows.
Mick pulled her into his lap. They fed each other bites of eggs and toast while Mick nuzzled Em’s neck, one hand resting on her bare thigh.
“This is really nice, you know,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I think I could get used to this.”