Carol's Image

by Jordan, Maryann

  He laughed as he pulled back up off the bed. Hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his tented boxers, he halted for a moment looking down at her beauty. Petite, slender, perfectly shaped. His eyes lifted to hers staring back at him. Blue eyes gazing at blue eyes.

  “Angel, you with me? You ready for this?” he asked. “Cause we do this, you’re mine. And I’m yours. No turnin’ back.” Looking down, holding her gaze, he held his breath. She began to smile, tentative at first, then her smile filled her face. Letting out his breath, he grinned back. “Gotta hear it, angel. You with me?”

  “Yeah, Tom. I’m with you,” she replied, raising her arms to the top of his boxers, covering his hands with her own.

  Pulling them off he lay down beside her, stroking her, memorizing her, finding what brought out the moans. “Love this body, angel. You are so beautiful. Inside as well as out. Just fuckin’ beautiful.”

  At that moment, she knew what it felt like to be beautiful. She felt it. Experienced it. Understood it. At that moment, she didn’t care what image she saw in the mirror. She just reveled in the knowledge that to Tom, she was beautiful. Smiling, she pulled him to her, locking her mouth with his.

  Rolling over, bracing up on his elbows, he towered over her, taking over the kiss. Slow at first, it quickly intensified. Tongues tangling, exploring, sucking, nipping then soothing with soft licks.

  She once again pushed her hips up toward his, desperately seeking the friction needed.

  Tom slid his hand under his pillow, coming out with a packet. Looking at her surprised expression, he chuckled. “Put that there last night, angel. Wasn’t sure, but was hopeful.”

  He quickly rolled it on, then placed his swollen cock at her entrance. “Eyes on me, angel. I wanna see those gorgeous eyes when I’m in you.”

  Sliding his cock into her wet folds, he slowly pushed to the hilt. Jesus, she’s tight. Does this hurt her? The realization that he never cared before washed over him. “Angel, I’m not hurtin’ you am I?”

  Answering by grabbing his ass, looking into his eyes, she said, “Go for it, baby.”

  “Hell yeah, angel,” he growled as he began to pump in and out of her dripping pussy. Harder and harder, keeping his eyes on her face, watching her bite her lip as her head was thrown back. He’d wanted to take it slow and easy, but he felt out of control with this woman. He wanted to own her, mark her, make her his. Pounding, the friction building, he kept his eyes on her.

  “Eyes, angel,” he called out when he first felt her pussy walls contract around his cock. Her eyes jerked open and she screamed his name again as a second orgasm exploded inside. Tom continued pounding for a few more thrusts before he made one last thrust, neck straining, emptying himself.

  He rolled to the side as he crashed down, pulling her along with him to keep from crushing her. Holding tightly to each other, heavy breathing synchronized, they lay for a long time. Not speaking. Just hands slowly caressing. Pulling her body in closer so that he felt every inch, he knew this was it. What he had been looking for. The missing piece to his life. This was forever for him. Is it forever for her too?

  “You’re so quiet,” she said softly, staring at his chest, afraid to look up and see what might be in his eyes. He’s so much more experienced than I am. Maybe that sucked for him. Maybe my body didn’t satisfy him like he hoped it would. Maybe…

  He placed his hand under her chin, raising her face to his. Quickly assessing her, he shook his head. “Don’t get clueless on me, angel. Never had anything like that before. Never had sex with anyone I cared about.” He sighed when he saw a flash of pain in her eyes. “Stay with me, angel. Don’t go back inside yourself where you can’t see what we’ve got here. I told you last night, I hate like hell I’ve gotta past that causes you pain. But we’re layin’ it to rest right here and right now.”

  Carol, wide-eyed, looked at Tom, doubt showing across her face. “How?” she asked.

  “By gettin’ it out in the open. Didn’t want to do it now, layin’ in bed after we just made love for the first time, but it seems those ghosts are in your head, so we’re gonna get rid of them now, so they don’t ever come back up.”

  Raising up, he leaned his back against the headboard, then pulled her up so that she was resting against him.

  “Babe, I’m thirty years old. Not any surprise I’ve been with women. Jake, Rob, and me played football in college, and we acted like we were the big dogs on campus. Had women, not one of them meant anything and honest to god, I couldn’t tell you the name of any of them. I worked as a policemen in Richland for a few years before coming back here. Again, I was young and had a lot of one-night stands. Always purely physical. Never meant anything. Wasn’t looking for anything so that fit what I needed.”

  Carol was quiet, listening, surprised that his words did not hurt. It seemed as though they were talking about someone else. A Tom of long ago. Not her Tom. Not the Tom she had now.

  He leaned over, staring into her eyes for a moment, then satisfied with what he saw, he continued. “Moved back to Fairfield to become a detective to be where Jake and Rob were. We were best friends, brothers almost, since we were little and I found that by my mid-twenties, I wanted that back in my life.

  “Hooked up some once I was back in town. Mostly one-nighters, but had a few friends with benefits. Found that those always ended badly ’cause I never wanted anything more, and they usually thought that it was gonna lead somewhere.”

  Carol shifted in his arms, so that she was straddling him, wanting to see in his eyes. Placing her small hands on his muscular shoulders, she nodded. “Keep going.”

  Liking the feel of her naked sitting on his lap, encouraged by the change in her demeanor, he continued.

  “Jake taught me a valuable lesson. He found that being a detective it was a damn nuisance to be investigatin’ a crime and run into a town hookup. He tended to go out of town for his needs, saying it just worked better for him. Made a fuckin’ lot of sense to me, so I haven’t had any one-nighters or fuck-buddies in this town in years. And when I did go out, it still meant nothing to me but a physical release. Won’t deny I had a couple of friendly hookups more than once with a woman I liked, but that was all it was. And when it was over, it was over. Rob, well he can’t keep it in his pants, and that will come back to bite him in the ass one day when he finally meets someone that he feels about like I feel about you.”

  Seeing that Carol was still listening, still gazing into his eyes, he was encouraged that maybe one of her dragons could be slayed today. “So angel, this is how we lay this shit to rest. You with me, so far?”

  Carol nodded, still satisfied with his recapping of his sexual past.

  Tom gently cupped her angelic face with his hands. “Listen carefully, angel. I have never loved any woman. Sex was physical or at the most a little pleasurable fun. That was then. This is now. Now is you. You are not a one-nighter. You are not a fuck-buddy. You are not a friend-with-benefits. You and me are gonna keep seein’ each other. We’re gonna move forward. You are mine, and I don’t share, so you also don’t have to worry about sharin’ me. So get the clueless about us out of your head. There is no comparison of you to any other woman. You are it for me. You still with me, angel?”

  Carol leaned in just until their mouths barely touched. She breathed him in. Closing her eyes for a second, she touched her lips to his.

  Tom was quiet, not sure where her head was at. Encouraged by her gentle kiss, he still felt a trickle of fear, wondering what she was thinking.

  Leaning back, she smiled up at him. “I’m with you, Tom.” Taking a deep breath, she sucked her lips tightly for a moment. Relaxing, she smiled again. “Okay.”

  Eyebrow cocked in question, he asked, “Okay? Okay what, angel?”

  “I choose you. I know you have a past, and you’ve laid it out. No more surprises. No more wondering if your past relationships are going to come around like Anita in the restaurant. If they do, I know you are with me. And you’ve never really bee
n with them. Not emotionally. So yeah, I’m with you.”

  “Thank fuck,” he growled crashing his lips down onto hers. This kiss built in intensity until they were one person. One being. Needing each other to breathe, to live.

  Feeling the blood rushing back to his dick, Tom lifted her, and she slid down on his waiting cock. Then she rode him until she shattered into a million pieces. And then he lifted her, continuing to thrust up into her until he found his release. Then they collapsed once again, this time his past not between them.

  *

  As Tom got ready for work, Carol fixed breakfast. Her eyes feasted on him as he walked in from the bedroom. Dark jeans, tight across his thighs, light blue button up shirt paired with a navy tie, and a khaki sports jacket carried across his arm. As her eyes traveled back up to his face she blushed as she once again was caught ogling him.

  “Angel, you keep lookin’ at me like that and I’ll never make it to work.”

  Ducking her head, she turned back to the stove to plate the eggs. Massive arms encircled her from behind, pulling her back into his front. “Oh no, angel, don’t get shy on me now. You wanna look babe, you go right ahead and look.”

  Tilting her head back she took his lips in a soft kiss, but pulled away before he could deepen it. “You’ve got to get to work, remember?” she replied in a sing-song voice.

  Taking the plate in one hand, he smacked her ass with the other as he walked over to lean against the counter. “When do you go back to work, angel?”

  Picking up her plate and walking to the bar, she replied, “This is my last day off because of my shoulder. I go back on the graveyard shift tonight.”

  “Not a fan of the graveyard shift, babe. Lot of crazy shit goes down in the ER at night, and there’s no denyin’ I’d like you in my bed.”

  “I’ve never had a reason not to work that shift before,” she replied honestly. “I haven’t dated in a long time, the only real friends I have work the various shifts…and the money is really good.”

  “You hurtin’ for money?”

  “No…” Carol’s eyes darted to the side, breaking eye contact with him.

  Setting his empty plate in the sink, he turned to face her directly. “No what, angel?”

  “I just pay my own way with everything and well…my student loans were large. I didn’t get any help from my family,” her eyes shot up to his, “but that’s okay. I mean lots of people don’t have any help from family.”

  “Come here, angel,” he ordered gently, holding his hand out.

  She walked around the bar and into his arms. Holding her tucked tight against his chest, he rested his chin on her head. She could hear his heartbeat pressed against her cheek.

  “Babe, we made good strides earlier. Got rid of some of that doubt you had goin’ on. I know somethins’ up with your parents, and we gotta deal with that later when you are ready. Right now, I gotta get to work. When will I see you again?”

  “I’m not sure. I won’t know my schedule until I get there.”

  “Okay angel. You can text it to me once you know.” Tom pulled her in closer, kissing the top of her head.

  She pressed her cheek closer to his chest, feeling the comfort of hearing his heartbeat. With his arms completely enveloping her, she felt warm, safe, comforted. Not controlled. But protected.

  “I hear your heartbeat,” she whispered.

  “It beats for you, angel,” Tom replied as he leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss, before leaving for work.

  Closing the door, Carol leaned against it for a moment, thinking about the past twenty four hours. Knowing she needed to call Ronda, she wasn’t dreading it. Yeah, I’ve got to tell her about my setback last night. But I’ve also got good news. He likes me. He really likes me.

  Chapter 9

  Walking into the ER nurse’s break room several days later, Carol saw Jon at the candy machines. “Hey stranger,” she called out. “We haven’t worked the same shifts recently.”

  Jon smiled, hugged her, then pulled her down into one of the chairs at the table. “Oohh, I’ve got news.”

  Laughing, she said, “What’s going on?”

  “Well, I’ve been trying to work more day shifts since…I met someone.”

  Grabbing her friend in another hug, she begged, “Tell me about him.”

  “A couple of weeks ago I went clubbing in Richland.” Seeing her raised eyebrow, he quickly explained. “Girl, it was not a bad club. Just a nice bar that plays jazzy music. Was with some friends, and they introduced us. He’s nice. Don’t know if anything lasting will happen, but for now, it’s all good. So what about you and Mr. Hottie Detective?”

  The door opened as Sofia walked in. “Oohh, are we talkin’ about Carol’s Mr. Gorgeous Ass Detective?”

  Blushing, Carol couldn’t help but smile.

  “Oh lordy, my girl is finally gettin’ some!” Sofia shouted, high-fiving Jon.

  “Guys, hush! Not everyone around here needs to know about my sex life,” Carol admonished.

  Sofia and Jon looked at each other, grinning ear to ear. “Well, at least you now got a sex life to talk about,” Jon retorted.

  Before the conversation could go any further, their pagers sounded. Heading back into the hall, they were alerted that the police were bringing in a prisoner injured in a fight.

  The man was coming in on a stretcher, his clothes ripped and bloody. Rob was with the paramedics transporting the prisoner with three policemen in attendance. Taking him back to one of the ER exam rooms, Carol began to remove his clothes to ascertain his injuries.

  Rob stayed for a couple of minutes watching Carol as she leaned over talking softly to the patient. Smiling at what he saw, he was beginning to understand why Tom was so enamored. She seemed real. Genuine. Thinking that he’d like to settle down with one woman himself but not sure where he was going to find the right one, he was happy for Tom. Catching her eye as he walked out of the room, he smiled and gave a head nod.

  Carol continued to work on the patient as Dr. Driscoll came into the room. Smiling, he leaned over closely to her as she was cleaning the wounds. “Dr. Driscoll, you need to step back; you are in my light.”

  “Carol, you know you can call me Harry.” He continued to smile at her as she continued to ignore him. After a few minutes of watching her work, he wrote in his notes that the wounds were severe enough that the patient would need to stay overnight for observation. He left and Jon popped into the room to see if she needed assistance.

  “I’ve got it,” she assured him. “Your shift is over. Go on home.”

  As Jon left the room, another man was escorted in with one of the policemen. Explaining that he was the wounded man’s brother, he wanted to be close by. The two policemen conferred, at first denying the brother the chance to sit in the room.

  “I don’t see how it could hurt,” Carol spoke up. “He isn’t going anywhere right now.”

  “Ma’am, all due respect, the prisoner is a major drug dealer from the Richland area, and he was in our area scoring. He got into a knife fight with another dealer. We got the tip and we got the man. We’re not about to take a chance that he will escape or that his brother won’t assist in some way.”

  Tight lipped, Carol continued to work on him. The brother sat quietly in the corner chair watching.

  Speaking softly to the patient, she cautioned when he would feel the pinch from the needle, and she administered pain meds in his IV as directed by the physician. “You’re going to look like you were in a cat fight for a couple of weeks, but I promise I am really good with stitches. You take care of these, and people will hardly notice the scars.”

  He kept his eyes on hers, distrust showing on his face as well as pain.

  After several minutes, the brother spoke. “I know my brother’s been into some bad trouble miss, but I sure do appreciate you being so nice to him.”

  Carol looked over smiling, and replied, “He’s not a prisoner to me. Nor a drug dealer. He’s just another patient.” />
  The man smiled and raised his eyes to her, staring intently as he continued to make conversation.

  “Brother’s name is Calvin. Mine’s Bert. My parents gave up on Cal years ago when he got into drugs and gangs. He went from bad to worse, so they washed their hands of him. But me, I just couldn’t let him go completely. We don’t hardly see each other, but we’ll text occasionally.”

  Carol continued working with Calvin, understanding the policemen’s attitude but feeling sorry for Bert as well. As she finished the stitches she began to clean the blood off his body as much as she could. Sofia came by to see if she needed help, but Carol waved her off.

  The attending physician completed the admission orders and taking over for Carol since some of the wounds were at risk for infection. As the hospital attendants were rolling Cal’s bed out of the ER room to move to a hospital bed upstairs, the policemen followed along.

  Bert stood, then hesitated as he looked over at Carol. “Miss, I do thank you for your kindness. I know my parents aren’t here, but if they were, they’d appreciate it too.” Looking at her name tag, he commented, “Carol. That’s a real pretty name for a real pretty lady.”

  Starting to feel uncomfortable under the constant gaze of Bert, Carol quickly washed her hands and moved toward the door. “You really should head on up in the elevator with your brother so you’ll know which room they put him in.”

  Bert nodded and followed her closely out into the hall. “Carol,” he said, putting his hand on her arm, “I hope to see you around again sometime.”

  Carol just smiled politely, turned, and walked back over to the nurses’ station. Standing there facing Sofia, she said softly, “Casually look behind me and see if that man has left.”

  Sofia quickly glanced over Carol’s shoulder, seeing Bert staring at Carol before walking over to the elevator. “He’s gone now, hun. You okay?”