“So you’d all have to bring big bills to tip the strippers, otherwise they’d never make any money off your party,” I said.
“Yeah, no strippers here either. Those two are just focused on the marriage, not the party beforehand. It’s kind of sweet in a Hallmark movie way. Not that I watch that shit, obviously,” she said hastily.
“Don’t lie.”
“I watched one or two when I had the flu last year. They’re all the same.”
“I think that’s the point. Nothing bad is going to happen. The big city guy isn’t going to shut down the Christmas tree farm or whatever. It’ll end happily, which is more than you can say for real life.”
“Maybe it works out sometimes. Elise and Brendan seem to have it figured out,” I said gently.
“Yeah,” she said. “I think it’s pretty rare.”
“It probably is. My parents didn’t get divorced or anything, but I think they probably should have. They weren’t exactly happy people,” I said.
“I wouldn’t know about that. Single mom. I didn’t know my dad.”
“Oh. No stepfather or anything?” I said.
“Oh, lots of them,” she said with a laugh that didn’t sound happy at all. It was a little bitter. “They didn’t stick around very long. And even if they seemed nice at first, they pretty much turned out to be deadbeats who didn’t hold down a job or who stole from my mom or cheated on her and crap.”
“That sounds rough,” I said, clearing my throat. “I didn’t exactly hit the jackpot in the dad department, but he was around. He just didn’t have a lot of time for us.”
“Then maybe you did hit the jackpot and you just don’t realize it,” she said ruefully. “I don’t know many people who had great childhoods. Elise did, but she’s a unicorn like that. Most of the people I know, their dads split when they were little or their parents fought all the time. I think I’d rather be on my own than put a kid through that.”
“Was there a lot of fighting when you were growing up?” I ventured.
“Only all the time. The first few weeks would be good. They’d be all loved up and gooey with each other, and the boyfriend would get me a bike or take me to play mini-golf or something like we were gonna have this big happy family. Sometimes the guy had kids of his own, and he’d bring them around for a weekend. This one time, Dan—he was around for a while—his kids came over and they had a kitten. He had gotten it for them from a guy he knew, and we played with that kitten all weekend. I was so sad when it left. I didn’t care that much about the kids, but that white kitten…they named her Snow White because they were stupid. Snow White had black hair.”
She shook her head, obviously still annoyed with the kids who misnamed the cute cat.
“If he was around for a while, did you get to see the cat again?”
“No. It got run over. The kids came by the next month for a weekend, and when I asked about Snow White, it was like they were over it. Old news to them. I had been waiting for weeks to get to hold that kitten again and pet it, and it had been dead all that time and I didn’t even know it.”
“You’d been waiting for something good that was never going to happen,” I said out loud.
I wanted to cuddle her in my arms and tell her I’d never treat her like that, but it would freak her out if I made long-term promises. I had to be sensitive to what she needed, take the relationship slowly. I wanted her to feel secure, and maybe the fact that her mom had been mistreated and left by every guy she cared about had left scars on Karin, and that was probably why she kept me at arm’s length most of the time. Because she didn’t think men could be counted on, not because she didn’t think she could trust me specifically. I promised myself I’d hold out and be as patient as a man could be.
“Yeah,” she said. “But it wasn’t a big deal really. I only saw it once. I don’t guess it even would’ve remembered me if it lived.”
There was something so hurt and so innocent in the way she said it that I would have given anything to reassure her that the damn kitten had loved her. But I knew that wasn’t going to help. So I just said, “It probably would have. Cats have a really good memory for scents.”
“That’s dogs,” she said.
“Okay, well, we didn’t really have pets. I wanted to say something nice,” I joked, and it worked because it made her smile.
“You usually do say something nice,” she said. “So I’ve told you my sob story. Tell me about the military. What was that like?”
“It was all I considered doing. Connor was so proud of himself, and my family was so proud of him when he was successful at Hell Week. Never repeat this to him, but I looked up to him all my life. I worked hard to get in condition for recruitment and the testing. I liked being a medic and helping people, and it was really useful in the field. I mean, the snakebites I treated alone—"
“Ouch. That’s—I’m not the kind of person who even watches survival in the wilderness shows. I’d suck at that. But you—you’re a badass.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I think being a SEAL qualifies as badass. Although I think growing up with a single mom and not a lot of opportunities and becoming a successful photographer living her best life in the islands is pretty badass too.”
“My best life? There are drug dealers after me. And not even because I’m some top-notch investigator. Because I didn’t check the parking lot before I started taking pictures.”
“I don’t know. You were living your best life late last night,” I said archly.
“All right. Fine. I had amazing sex and then the guy made me pancakes. Easily the best ten hours of my life right here.”
“You better not be joking,” I said teasingly.
She got up, and just like that she sat down on my lap and draped her arms around my neck. She shot me a mischievous grin, “I’m dead serious.”
I kissed her. My hand rode high on her thigh, pushing up the hem of my old t-shirt. My body hardened the second she perched across my lap, and by the time my tongue was in her mouth, I was ready to go. I could taste her soft moans, scent her desire. I knew if I dipped my fingers between her legs, she’d be wet for me. It seemed like Karin was always wet for me, which felt magical, like proof we were meant to be together. All it ever took was a glance or touch from her and I was hard as a steel pipe for her and only her. My body always answered to her call. It was primal and I loved it.
I’d like to say I stopped the kiss and encouraged her to finish her breakfast, and that I would vow to take it slow in the relationship extended to not fucking her blind before nine in the morning. It would be a lie through and through because I did exactly what nature intended. I followed my baser instincts. I answered her soft whimpers, as she ran her fingers through my hair. I pushed up that shirt and fondled her nipples. I don’t know which one of us moaned louder at that first touch. I pulled her right leg across my lap so she straddled me.
I buried my face in her chest, mouthing her nipple through the worn fabric. I felt her shudder in response, and so I sucked harder. I ran my hands up the outside of her bare thighs, working that shirt up until I could cup her ass in my hands. She was bare underneath. I’d known she would be. My big hands massaged her sweet round ass while I sucked her neck, nipped at the place where her shoulder met her neck. It made her roll her hips forward, which, to me, felt both good and agonizing at the same time.
Sitting back, I cupped her face in my hands. I kissed her forehead, her cheekbone and then the corner of her mouth. Teasing the tip of my tongue along the corner of her lips, I coaxed her to turn toward me, and I capture her lips. It was a full, wet, urgent kiss. This didn’t have the mind-blowing intensity and deep yearning of the night before. It was fun, and while a tangle of emotions fought for primacy, I wanted to keep this light, a sexy romp we could share that wouldn’t move either or both of us to tears.
Karin gripped my biceps and held on, giving as good as she got, licking and sucking and making her desire clear to me. I knew what yes looked and felt
like. This was yes. My hands moved back to her breasts, unable to resist kneading them through my own old shirt, giving her the slight friction of the fabric on her too-sensitive nipples. She arched her back, and my palm went to the small of her back to hold her. Instinct made us so good at this. I kissed the underside of her jaw as she tipped her head back. The way she ground against my lap was sexier than anything I could imagine. She rocked, then drew back with a saucy glare at me, biting her full lip suggestively.
Pushing her shirt up, I rubbed my thumb between her legs and felt her bare, plump lips, so wet and ready. She didn’t have panties on, which never failed to thrill me. I swear, she did it just to keep me off balance, to make me think about it all the time. Rubbing back and forth along the outer lips, I crooked one finger and gave her my knuckle, just pushing it past her entrance, feeling her quiver and watching her drop back on her elbows to brace herself on the table. I loved having her spread out on my lap. I leaned forward and kissed beneath her jaw again, “I love this,” I told her huskily.
“So—so do I,” she stammered as I fingered her, and her hips rolled of their own volition.
“You know what I’d love more?” I said teasingly, drawing my fingers from between her legs and earning an annoyed sound from her.
“What?” she said.
“Burying my cock in you right here, right now,” I said, “because I want you so much, Karin. I want to be inside you, raw and real like we were last night, and I want to see how many times I can make you scream my name.”
With that, Karin rose up and pulled down my athletic shorts. My cock sprang out, standing at attention and very much ready to go. She closed her hand around my shaft, her fingers not quite meeting, and gave me one firm stroke.
She kissed my chin and jaw as my head was tipped back with pleasure from the way she was touching me. Her hands were amazing, strong and soft. I could have sprawled in that chair and just let her bring me to ecstasy. But I wasn’t the submissive type.
I grabbed her thighs and massaged them, getting a good handful of flesh and muscle. She wriggled, obviously enjoying herself, and dipped her face to suck my earlobe.
I made a noise, something undignified and animalistic at the charge of pleasure.
I rolled my hips, bringing the underside of my hard-on in contact with her clit. Her eyes flew open wide and she arched into me, gave me a squeeze.
“Give me your hands,” I said. She stopped stroking me and held out her hands.
I grabbed her hands and pinned them behind her back, cuffing them with one of my big hands. It arched her back and thrust her breasts forward, a fact I took advantage of by sucking one and then the other. I slid my free hand behind her neck and brought her lips to mine, kissed her teasingly, nipping and licking, never giving her the deep thrusts of my tongue she liked so well. Frustrated, she wriggled in my grip. Her eyes were hot and horny, her lips parted. I ran my hand under her shirt and fondled her nipples, so tight and hard. Her sex was so wet it was on her thighs and I rubbed my hard cock through that slickness. It felt incredible, knowing I affected her so much, knowing that I could make her so crazy. I nipped at her neck, her earlobe. She twisted in my lap and whimpered. I bit down on her fleshy earlobe and she said, “Mick, Jesus!”
My hand went back under her shirt so I could stroke the undersides of her breasts and down her belly. Dipping my fingers between her legs, I touched her tender folds, gave her just the tip of my finger. She clenched, quivered, her wild eyes locked on mine, “Mick,” she whispered. I captured her mouth and kissed her, tonguing her until she trembled. I reached between us, teased her with my fingertip just for the fun of making her clench and writhe in my lap. Her teeth grazed my neck and I growled, barely biting back her name before I could groan it. I seized her hip to steady her and gave her one, deep stroke. Her whole body tensed as she took every long, thick inch of me all at once. She bowed up, her head thrown back. I buried myself in her and rolled my hips. Then I bucked up into her. She rocked on top of me, going wild. I clamped her hands behind her back still, and I used my hand to push her forward on me, to make her rock faster, to guide her. I was going to explode any second, no matter how hard I tried to hold out. It was too sexy, too delicious.
Karin managed to get a knee braced on the side of the chair and lever herself up. She came down on me hard, taking me in all the way. I felt the chair rock backward with the force of her landing as I bucked into her with a roar and came like a rocket inside her. The chair collapsed under us. I caught her to me with my arm and my chest broke her fall. She landed on me in a pile of broken kitchen chair bits, laughing.
She crawled over me, relishing her free hands and using them to caress all over my body. Meanwhile, I was lying underneath her with a piece of the chair jabbing me in the hip and my shorts down around my knees. Still, nothing to complain about there. Bracing her hands on either side of my head, she leaned down, rubbed her beautiful lips over mine so sensuously, so lightly I couldn’t bear it. I flicked my tongue across her bottom lip, my arms coiling around her. She drew back a little with a small smile.
“I’ll kiss you if you say my name,” she teased.
“Karin,” I said without hesitation, “you drive me insane. And I would do anything you asked just to get you to kiss me.”
“That gives me a lot of power, you know,” she teased, kissing me. That kiss, damn that kiss was so worth it. She sealed her lips to mine, drew my tongue into her mouth and sucked it as I explored the curves of her sweet mouth. I groaned, bunching the fabric of the t-shirt in my hands as I rolled her over.
“It’s your turn,” I said, “I’m going to make you come so hard you scream my name a hundred times.”
Two orgasms later, she was sated, and I was exhausted but happy. We stretched out on the couch together, me spooned up behind her and holding her close.
“Tell me about when you first wanted to take pictures,” I said into her hair, kissing it.
“When I was a kid, we went to the park a lot. It was free, and I could ride my bike there by myself, that kind of thing. I liked to watch the squirrels and birds and things. I got a camera at a yard sale and charged it up and that’s how I got started. Park animals and weeds and flowers and stuff.”
“I like that. You saw ordinary things and wanted to take pictures of them. I’ve seen your photos lots of times, but I want to see some of your nature stuff. I know you’ve taken pics of the island.”
“Yeah, they’re on my computer at work. I’ll send you a couple good ones,” she said a little shyly.
“You can send me more than a couple.”
“You really want to see them?” she said.
“Well, yeah. You’re amazing. I like how you look at things, and I want to see more of your photos. What, did you think I was just acting interested to get in your pants? Cause you’re not wearing any,” I teased.
“Fine. Your turn. You were a medic in the service. So why didn’t you go be a nurse or a doctor when you got out?”
“I could have. But I wanted something more low key in civilian life. I liked being a medic, but I still get to help people like that extremely dumb girl who cut herself on the dive the other day.”
“So you get the best of both worlds. Play in the ocean all day, save the dumbasses, too.”
“Something like that,” I joked.
“I’m glad you decided to save my dumb ass,” she said.
“You’re not dumb, and your ass is phenomenal,” I said, kissing her temple.
I couldn’t believe how good it felt to lie there and hold her, but it was so fulfilling, so relaxing that we both fell asleep for a while.
Chapter 22
Karin
When I woke up on the couch in Mickey’s arms, feeling so satisfied and happy, I knew I had to ask him about what was scaring me. I took a breath and nudged him to wake him up. He smiled and hugged me to him.
“I have a question,” I said.
“Fire away,” he said, snuggling me.
�
��I’m glad the girl on the beach was just some woman who needed your help for an injury, but she’s not what scared me off. I need to know if you meant what you said.”
“That I love you? Yes. I mean it,” he said, his brow furrowed, looking troubled.
“No, when you said it wouldn’t work between us and we were a bad idea,” I blurted out.
“What? I would never say that or think it.” Mickey sat up, looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
“The night I took you home from the bar when you were drunk,” I said.
“All I remember about that night was getting so drunk I was dizzy getting off my stool. I think you offered to take me home. That’s it. Lights out after that. But I absolutely didn’t mean anything stupid I said that night. You know how I feel about you.”
He kissed me. I was glad to hear it, but that didn’t mean I didn’t need to guard my heart with him. Even more so now that he’d said he loved me. He probably believed it, the same way all those boyfriends of my mom probably said it and believed it early on. I drew back, trying to think of what to say. My phone rang. I grabbed it, saw that it was Elise.
“Hey, what’s up?” I said.
“What’s up is you’re late. We’re shopping for flowers for the wedding. We have appointments at two places and the first one’s in fifteen minutes, that’s what’s up!” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I was just—napping,” I said.
“Well, I guess I can do this on my own. Sorry if I woke you,” she said.
“No, no I’m on my way. I’ll be there in like twenty minutes. I’m sorry I forgot.”
I hung up, “I’m late for a wedding thing with Elise. I’m going to go put on some clothes and do my hair.”
“Want me to give you a ride?” he asked.
“Uh, you did that. We broke the chair,” I deadpanned.
The truth was, I was glad to have an excuse to get out of there. I got ready and then thanked Mickey for all his help and for breakfast.
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