by Beth Ehemann
“That was…” She peered at me with a glazed look in her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t…”
“We’re not done.” I bent down and possessed her mouth again as I cupped both sides of her face. There was no music playing, but we started swaying back and forth as if there were. This girl kissed me in a way that made me forget kissing even existed before her.
“Come here.” She took my hand and started pulling me toward the living room.
“Wait.” I squeezed her hand and tugged back. “Not in there. Please.”
“Upstairs?” She grinned at me as she chewed on the inside of her lip.
I nodded, desperate to get that lip back in my mouth. “Here, hop on.” I turned around and squatted.
“A piggyback ride? Are you serious?” She laughed.
Turning my head to the side just a tad, I ordered, “I’m all kinds of worked up, so unless you wanna do it right here on the wood floor, hop on.”
She giggled as she sprang onto my back, and I took the stairs two at a time.
“Take a left,” she mumbled as she kissed my neck with the lightest flicks of her tongue, sending shivers all the way down my back.
Once I got into her bedroom, I walked straight to the bed and turned around, dumping her off backward as she let out a playful squeal. She crawled backward up the bed, staring me straight in the eye as she moved. I yanked my T-shirt over my head and pushed my pants and boxers off even faster, grabbing the condom out of my pocket.
Rule number one. Always. Until it’s on purpose.
“You brought that with you tonight?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, watching as I rolled the condom down my shaft. “Someone was very confident, huh?”
“It has nothing to do with confidence.” I kissed her collarbone. What was it about her damn collarbone that drove me insane? “But I did know I was coming here to tell you I loved you, and I was pretty sure if you felt even half as strong about me as I feel about you, we’d end up here.”
Michelle lay back on the bed and lifted my face up to kiss her again.
“Hang on a sec.” I pulled her up to a sitting position, dragged her T-shirt over her head, and tossed it off to the side. “Much better.” My mouth connected with her nipple as soon as she lay back on the bed.
I was ready. I was more than ready. So far past foreplay it wasn’t even funny at that point.
As soon as she was on her back, I nudged her legs apart with my knee and positioned myself on top of her. I leaned on my elbow for a second and brushed the hair off of her forehead, looking into her eyes.
“What?” she asked in a worried tone as she ran her nails up and down my side.
“I don’t know. Just… this. You. It’s incredible.” I kissed the tip of her nose. She smiled and pulled me down for a kiss, softly gasping into my mouth as I slid inside of her. We continued kissing while I moved in and out, picking up speed. Her nails dug into my back and she started moaning again, turning her face to the side as she closed her eyes. I knew she was close.
“Open your eyes. Look at me,” I said in between pants. “I wanna watch you. I want you to look right at me when you come.”
Her eyes opened and her brows pulled in tight, making the most erotic face.
“I love you, Michelle.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, breathing heavier. “Oh God!” She curled into me a little as her body went still, and I pumped harder and harder, determined to push her over the edge again. “Viper! Oh shit!” She pinched her eyes shut.
“Look at me. Please. I need to see you.” I’d never felt what I felt in that moment during sex. Before Michelle, sex was just something I did to feel good and fill up time, but with her and with feelings involved, it brought it to a whole new level. Beyond intense.
She opened her eyes again and clamped down on her bottom lip as she came around me, each pulse of her pussy bringing me closer and closer. Finally, I felt my balls tighten, and that was it. I stared back into her eyes and lowered my forehead to hers as I came harder than I’d ever come in my whole life. I grunted, groaned, and told her I loved her two more times before I was done. As soon as I was finished, my body went limp. I was exhausted. I took the condom off and cleaned up before hurrying back to bed with her.
“Should we get up and get dressed?” she asked after we’d lain in bed, hugging each other for about ten minutes.
“No,” I said sternly. “Now that I’ve seen you naked, I’d like you to be that way as often as possible, please.” I kissed her temple, leaving my mouth there.
She laughed and I rolled over, propping myself up on my elbow. “I wasn’t kidding.” I shook my head.
“Well,”—she rolled over and faced me—“I’m thinking that might make Matthew ask a few questions I’m not ready to answer yet, so I suppose you’ll just have to wait until he goes to bed every night.”
I tucked a stubborn piece of hair behind her ear. “You bet your ass we’re gonna do that every night… and every nap time… and when he’s watching TV… and when he’s outside playing…”
“Easy.” She laughed. “I’d like to be able to walk regularly.”
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
“Starving!” she said dramatically.
“Well, seeing as how I’m too fucking exhausted to cook any of the stuff I brought with me, wanna order a pizza?”
“Very fitting. I would love to.” She chuckled to herself. “And… I can think of something to keep us busy for the half hour until the delivery man gets here.”
“ARE YOU EXCITED?” I looked in my rearview mirror at Matthew, who was grinning in the backseat, as usual.
He nodded.
I turned toward Michelle. “How about you?”
“I’m nervous,” she admitted. “I mean… this is the equivalent of meeting your mom. She’s the most important person in your life.”
“Correction.” I lifted her hand, kissing the top of it. “One of the most important people in my life.”
She smiled at me with her whole face, from her mouth to her beautiful eyes.
“You have nothing to worry about. She’s gonna love you.” I hopped out of the car and unbuckled Matthew from the backseat while Michelle reached in and got Maura.
We were halfway up the sidewalk to Gam’s when she came out on her front porch and waved at us. “Hi, everyone!”
“Whoa,” I muttered under my breath before leaning over to Michelle. “Clearly you’re not the only nervous one. She’s never this chipper.”
“Hi!” Matthew waved back, running up ahead of us. “I’m Matthew.”
Gam rested her hands on her knees, bending over just a little bit to be closer to him. “Hi, Matthew. I’m Gam. Nice to meet you. You’re a cutie pie.”
“Thanks.” Matthew nodded. “So are you.” He climbed the rest of the way up the porch and walked into her house like he owned the place.
Gam stood and looked back at him with her mouth hanging open before turning to us. “I love that kid already.” She laughed.
“Hi, Gam. I’m Michelle.” She reached her hand out for Gam to shake, but Gam playfully pushed it away.
“I know who you are. You’re the woman that made my grandson’s brain turn to mush. I shake hands with strangers; I hug family.” She pulled Michelle into a big hug, wrapping her arms around Maura at the same time. “And you, you pretty little thing, you must be Maura.” Gam tickled under her chin with one finger as Maura smiled shyly and tried to hide behind her mom.
“How are you, you old bat?” I said when it was my turn.
“Wow. For once you don’t look like shit. Way to go, kid,” she said warmly as she hugged me back. “Come inside. I made lunch… unless Matthew already ate it all.”
We spent the next hour chitchatting as we sat around her dining room table eating BLT sandwiches and her famous pineapple coleslaw. That was my absolute favorite of hers. I swear I could eat it by the pound.
“That was delicious. I’m stuffed.” Michelle wiped her mouth
with her napkin.
“I loved the bacon!” Matthew cheered, throwing his little hands up in the air.
“Me too, buddy.” I reached my fist out for him to bump it.
Michelle stood up and handed Maura to me as she started stacking the plates on her arm. “I’m gonna start cleaning this table off. Would you mind keeping an eye on Maura for me?” she asked.
“No problem.” I nodded, setting Maura down on my knee. Immediately, she squirmed to get down. “Hang on, baby. We’ll go play in a minute.”
“Oh, let her down.” Gam waved. “There’s not much here she can get into. Besides, I like watching her play.”
I set her down on the floor and turned in my chair so I could keep an eye on her.
“Wow, look at you,” Gam said as she pressed her lips together, shaking her head slowly at me.
“What?” I asked defensively.
“The way you are with the kids. It’s natural. I never thought I’d see you with kids.”
“Eh, Michelle is the real superhero, Gam. I just try to help out where I can and make her life a little easier.”
“Well…” Her eyes welled up with tears. “It’s nice to see.”
“You know, for such a tough old lady, you sure cry easily,” I teased.
“Oh, shut up, you brat.” She took her glasses off and set them on the table as she pulled a tissue out of the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her eyes. “Let’s move into the living room where the kids can play while we talk.”
Matthew spread out all the Legos he’d crammed into his backpack on the coffee table, and Maura immediately stood up at the edge of the table, smashing all of his little buildings like Godzilla.
“Hey!” Matthew squealed as she slammed her fist down over and over, giggling.
“Uh-oh. No way, missy.” Michelle scooped Maura up to keep her away from Matthew. So of course Maura arched her back and threw a fit.
“Hang on. I have an idea.” Gam stood up and walked into the kitchen, returning a couple minutes later with a stack of measuring cups and spoons. She set them on the floor next to Maura and her tiny little eyes lit up. “There. Babies love those things.”
“Thank you.” Michelle smiled sweetly as Gam reached over and squeezed her hand.
“So, how have things been with you guys?” she asked as she relaxed back into her couch.
“Um…” Michelle sighed and shifted her eyes over to mine. In that one look from her, I saw all the stress and chaos the last couple of weeks had included.
“It’s been… okay.” I took over for Michelle. “We didn’t make any big official announcements to the world that we were together or anything, but of course as soon as we went out once or twice, there were some pics posted in magazines and the mean tweets began.”
“Oh no.” Gam shook her head. “All those electronic devices are the devil, I’m telling you. I hate them.”
“I know. I have to come over twice a year to change all your clocks to the right time, remember?” I teased her.
She shot me a playful glare. “But wait, what did these tweety people say?”
I leaned forward and lowered my voice so Matthew didn’t hear me. “They just said some shitty things about Mike dying and how wrong it is that we’re together now. It wasn’t that they were lies, but the way they said it just hurt.”
Gam ran her tongue over her top teeth as she nodded slowly, looking back and forth between Michelle and me. “You know what? Fuck them.”
“Gam!” I blurted as Michelle and I looked over at Matthew, who was so enthralled with his Lego garbage truck that he didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, please.” She waved toward him. “Swearing never hurt anyone. I swore around you as a kid, and you turned out just fine.”
“I don’t know that I’d say that,” Michelle mumbled under her breath playfully.
“I’m serious, though. Fuck them.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you know I was engaged when I met your papa?”
“Wait. What?” I was confused. That crazy woman could switch topics faster than a preschooler.
“When I met your papa… I was already engaged. Did you know that?” she repeated.
“No, I had no clue.”
“Yep.” She nodded. “To Johnny from Mississippi. He was a sailor. Boy did I have a thing for a man in a uniform. Still do.” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.
“Gross.” I closed my eyes and shook the thought from my head.
“Anyway, back in my day, people didn’t do that. Once you were engaged, you were engaged, but I couldn’t help it. I’d fallen in love with your papa. So I broke off my engagement with Johnny and married your papa immediately,” she said with a confident nod. “And if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here. But that’s not my point. My point is that sometimes just because something isn’t necessarily the right thing to do or the socially acceptable thing to do, that shouldn’t stop you.”
Damn, I love this woman.
“You come from a long line of rebels, rule breakers, and envelope pushers, Lawrence. You’ve never been one to color inside the lines, and I would expect nothing less of you as a grown man. If those people out there in computer land don’t like what you two are doing, who gives a shit? You love her and she loves you. That’s the only thing that matters when you put your head on your pillow every night.”
Michelle turned her head toward me, pinching her lips together as her eyes turned watery.
“You’re such a softie.” I grinned, shoulder bumping her.
“Okay, enough of that nice shit.” Gam stretched her neck to look through the sliding doors that led to her back deck and stood up. “Come on, Matthew. I want to show you my birdhouses out back.”
Matthew jumped up excitedly and took her hand as they walked toward the kitchen.
“I thought they were going out back,” Michelle whispered as she leaned in close.
Just then I heard pieces of ice drop from the freezer into a cup, and I couldn’t stop myself from lowering my head and laughing.
“All right, now we can go. Do you like squirrels?” she asked Matthew as they went out on the deck, carrying the cup of ice.
OUR SEASON WAS over. We didn’t make the playoffs—again. Losing was frustrating, but at least I had a great little crew to hang out with every night to soften the blow. Before summer officially started and everyone went their separate ways for a few months, Michelle and I decided to have a cookout at her house. Sort of as a thank you to everyone for their support throughout the last year.
We’d been in full-on house prep mode all week: deep cleaning, dusting, raking the yard—all the not fun stuff.
“How’s it going down there?” I looked over at Matthew, who was supposed to be helping me pull weeds but ditched me to collect earthworms in his bucket instead.
“Fine,” he answered flatly as he concentrated on what he was doing.
“What are you doing?”
“I cut a worm in half. Both of his pieces are still moving.” He turned toward me with a devilish grin on his face. “It’s so cool. His guts are out!”
I was both worried and proud at the same time.
“Hey, you hungry?”
Still staring down at his mutilated new friend, he nodded.
“Let’s take a break and see if Mom has any ideas for lunch.” I stood and walked up behind him. “Then you should probably have a bath, huh? You have dirt in places I didn’t know existed.”
Matthew rose to his feet and walked with me to the house, hand in hand, of course. I’d become used to the fact that if I was walking anywhere with Matthew, even someplace close like from the backyard to the house, he would be by my side and holding my hand. I wasn’t just used to it, I looked forward to it.
I opened the sliding door and he ran in, heading straight for his playroom.
“Freeze!” I called as he was halfway down the hall. He spun around to face me and I pointed toward the other side of the hallway. “You. Bathroom. Hands. Worm guts.”
&n
bsp; Michelle was standing in the living room with her hands on her hips and her face crinkled up. “Do I even want to know?”
“Probably not.” I shook my head as I washed my hands in the sink. “But if he ever asks for a dog, say no.”
I heard her scoff behind me.
Drying my hands on a dish towel, I walked up next to her and looked down at the cardboard box she’d taped together. I motioned toward it. “What’s that for?”
She turned and faced the wedding pictures of her and Mike that hung on the wall. “For these. It’s time.”
I put my hand on her shoulder, turning her toward me slightly. “You know I’m not asking you to take those down. You don’t have to do that for me.”
“I know you aren’t.” She nodded as she stared at the wall, deep in thought. “But it’s been a year. I think I’m ready.”
“Okay.” This was the part I hated as a guy. Was I supposed to take them down for her? Hold the box? Hug her? Walk away? “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, but thank you.” She gave me a tight smile and then turned back toward the wall, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Here goes nothing.” Her hands shook as she wrapped them around the black frame and gently lifted it off of the wall, setting it in the box.
I eyed her cautiously. “You okay?”
She swallowed. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I am.” She took the other three wedding pictures down and put those in the box too.
“What are you guys doing?” Matthew asked from behind us.
We both spun around. He was scratching the side of his face as he frowned at us.
“Hey, honey.” Michelle squatted down in front of him. “I’m just taking some pictures down so we can put some new ones up.”
“Oh.” His voice trailed off like he was confused. “So is my dad not my dad anymore? Is Viper my new dad?”
A soft gasp escaped Michelle’s lips as she shook her head. “No, baby. He’s still your dad.”
“Come over here, my man.” I held my hand out to Matthew and we walked over to the couch together, where I scooped him up and plopped him on my knee. He chewed on his lip and wrung his hands together as he stared up at me with his big eyes. “I need you to listen to me, okay?”