Swing and a Mishap

by Tara Sivec

  I understand it now when I’ve heard women say “His kisses drive me wild.” I feel like I’m going crazy, but in the best possible way. I want to scream, and I want to whisper, and I want to laugh, and I want to cry. He sucks on my tongue, and I immediately moan into his mouth, never in my life being turned on by a kiss until now. I’m so crazy turned on I’m fisting the front of Shepherd’s shirt to pull him closer, feel him everywhere, and deepen the kiss on my own this time as I push up on my toes.

  I hear him growl into my mouth, and I feel it rumble from his chest pressed against mine, when I suddenly feel like I’m turning and tumbling through the air all over again, until I realize Shepherd has whirled me around on his front porch without breaking the kiss. My feet scramble backward to walk with him, clutching tighter to the front of his shirt while he kisses me with the same frantic urgency that’s coursing through my body. I brace for the feel of my back being slammed against the side of the house, but it never comes. We kiss, and we kiss, and we kiss as one of Shepherd’s hands drops from my face while we move, his arm quickly wrapping around me as we go. That firm, protective arm around my body is what slams into the side of the cottage instead of my back, and knowing he’s trying to protect me even while we’re both mindless from this kiss makes me realize just how much I’ve been missing all my life by kissing the wrong people. It makes the fire I’ve felt raging inside me since the first touch of his lips explode into an inferno that I never want to extinguish.

  He holds me like an angel, soft and protective and full of care, one hand still gently cupping my cheek with his other arm wrapped firmly around me. But he kisses like the devil, hard and punishing and like he’s trying to claim me. His tongue sinks deeper, and I moan into Shepherd’s mouth again, one of my legs wrapping around the back of his, tugging him closer until his body flattens against mine, pushing me harder into the arm he holds around me against the side of the house. He sucks on my top lip in between deep, bruising kisses, and my body reacts like he just put his mouth between my legs and did the same thing.

  I jerk against him, needing some relief from the burning ache he’s created, and I whimper so loudly into his mouth when I rub right up against his hard cock straining inside his shorts that Shepherd’s hand comes off my cheek to smack loudly against the side of the house right above my head. There’s nothing I can do but cling to him. I’m so dizzy from the feel of his lips and tongue trying to memorize every inch of my mouth that the one leg I’m standing on would give out if he weren’t holding me so tightly against him. Shepherd bends his knees and pushes back up, his hardness rubbing against me until I see stars behind my closed eyes and my leg locks tighter around the back of his thigh.

  His kiss is desperate and possessive, telling me with each swipe of his tongue and each gasping breath of mine he swallows into his lungs that I’m his. That I’ve always been his and he meant every word in those messages. And when I feel his powerful body shudder against mine with the force of his own need as I jerk my hips and rub, rub, rub that sweet ache away against him in the same rhythm as his tongue swiping against mine over, and over, and over… I know he has me. Every part of me belongs to Shepherd, and it always has. The small handful of men who came before him were just placeholders until the right one came along. The one whose kisses tell me even better than the words he wrote to me that I’ve always been his.

  The sound of someone shouting a few houses away brings me back down to earth, smothering some of my need with a reminder that having my first orgasm with another human being instead of my own hand probably shouldn’t happen out in the open on Shepherd’s front porch, no matter how badly I want it to.

  Giving myself a few more seconds to enjoy Shepherd’s dizzying kiss, I finally let go of the firm grip I have on his shirt. With a gentle push of my hands against his chest, I yank my mouth away from his, both of us groaning softly at the loss. His arm is still firmly around me, his other hand is still against the side of the house above my head, and we’re still pressed tightly together from our thighs to our chests as we stand here, lips an inch apart, breathing heavy and staring at each other. Shepherd’s heated gaze as he looks down at me does nothing to cool the fire still raging inside me, and I try to look away, but I can’t. No one’s ever looked at me like this before, like it’s taking everything in him not to rip my clothes off me and fuck me against the side of the house, and it’s addicting. I could stand here all night, drinking in the sight of his flushed skin, the muscle ticking in his jaw covered in a five o’clock shadow of scruff, the feel of his heart racing under my flattened palms, and his eyes darting back and forth between my eyes and my lips.

  Nothing can be heard but the sound of the waves crashing against the shore on the other side of Shepherd’s cottage and the rapid beating of my own heart in my ears, neither one of us saying anything. I don’t even know what to say to him right now. Not one thing in my head could accurately convey what he just did to me and how I feel in this moment. How do you tell someone that all these years, you’ve been walking around dead inside, and with one touch of his lips, it shocked you back to life?

  I don’t know how. Especially right now with his hardness still pressing into me, and how I can still feel his mouth on mine, and his breath is panting quickly against my lips, and I just want to kiss him again and forget about the rest of the world. So I don’t say anything, because I don’t want to screw it up. I want this moment, this first kiss I’ve been dreaming about since I was a teenager, these couple of minutes in time to remain as perfect as they are in my head right now without me messing it all up by saying something stupid.

  Untangling my leg from around his, I duck down and move out from under his arm he’s still holding against the side of the house then quickly make my way over to the porch stairs and down them. My hand comes up as I walk, and my fingertips touch my swollen lips just to reassure myself I didn’t imagine things, now that I’m away from the warm cocoon of his body.

  “So is that a yes for a date then?” Shepherd shouts after me, making me smile against my fingertips as I take a peek back at him over my shoulder while I quickly make my way down his front walk.

  He’s still standing where I left him, but now he’s leaning back against the side of the house where he just kissed the hell out of me, like his legs might give out if he tries to walk. It just makes me smile even bigger as I look away from him, dropping my fingers from my lips once I get to the sidewalk, and shout back.

  “We’ll see! Message me.”

  Shepherd: Did that kiss really happen, or did I imagine it?

  Wren: Who is this?

  Shepherd: That is not, nor will it EVER be, funny again, Wren Elizabeth Bennett. You know damn well who it is, since you can see the texts I sent you the last few days that you never answered.

  Wren: Oooh, bringing out my full name. Will I get a spanking too?

  Shepherd: Maybe I’m the one who should be asking who this is. Jesus, Wren. A man can only take so much in one night. I can still taste you, and I can still feel you against me, and I can still see the way you touched your lips when you were walking away from me with that shocked, beautiful smile on your face. Like you couldn’t believe it happened. And if you say one more thing like that, I might actually break my phone this time by crushing it in my hand instead of throwing it across the room.

  Wren: Why did you throw your phone across the room???

  Shepherd: Because I’m a dumb boy who made a girl cry, and I was pouring my heart out to her, and she wasn’t reading my messages. Or, you know, it slipped, and now it has a cracked screen.

  Wren: You know what this reminds me of? That time I kept messaging you, and you never replied to me, and then you stopped talking to me for a whole year. But you know, my HEART was cracked.

  Shepherd: Ouch, I deserve that.

  Wren: At least when I started talking to you again, it only took two days and you got a kiss out of it, you big baby.

  Shepherd: Damn, Bennett, are you finished?

>   Wren: Hold on. Remember that time I poured MY heart out to YOU, and you just let me walk away and then said all the perfect things in messages instead of to my face?

  Wren: Okay, now I’m done.

  Shepherd: Never, ever change, Wren. I kind of like you.

  Wren: Good. Because I kind of like you too, person I now have saved in my phone as “Random Guy I Kissed.”

  Random Guy I Kissed: You’re hilarious. Also, thanks for the chocolate sauce transfer from your shirt to mine during that kiss. It was delicious.

  Wren: OMG! You’re lying. And what do you mean it was delicious if it was on your shirt?

  Random Guy I Kissed: I mean, I just assumed it was chocolate sauce when I looked down and saw it after you left, but a licking taste test confirmed it.

  Wren: Eeew, what if that wasn’t chocolate?!!!

  Random Guy I Kissed: I mean, if you left a brown substance on my shirt that wasn’t chocolate sauce, we have much more to be concerned with than me licking a mystery stain off my shirt.

  Wren: Give me that shirt next time I see you, and I’ll wash it for you. OMG I’m sorry!

  Random Guy I Kissed: You will do nothing of the sort! Why are you apologizing? Since when is chocolate bad? Was there a memo sent out I don’t know about? Do you know how many years I’ve dreamed about you and chocolate sauce living together in perfect, naked harmony? Don’t ruin this for me now. LET ME HAVE MY CHOCOLATE FANTASY, WREN.

  Wren: How do you do that?

  Random Guy I Kissed: Do what? Turn you on and then make you want to vomit all within 0.3 seconds? It’s a gift.

  Wren: LOL no! Make me feel… I don’t know… normal. That’s not the right word, but now I’m thinking about YOU and chocolate sauce, so thanks for that. My tongue was just in your mouth, and I should feel weird and my skin should be all itchy, and I should be second-guessing every word I’m saying to you so I don’t say something stupid, but I’m not. Kissing you was just as natural and easy as messaging you that first time. And nothing feels weird, and it still feels like we’re US but different, and you know what? I’m just gonna shut up now before I make things weird.

  Random Guy I Kissed: I like it when you’re weird. And I feel the same way. I thought I’d be nervous texting you after what happened, but I’ve never felt so… calm. And now you’ve got me saying the wrong words, because I am anything but calm. I can’t stop thinking about that kiss, and it’s driving me crazy, because I just want to kiss you again right now. But talking to you is never weird. It’s always right, and it’s always perfect. Also, I’m gonna need a minute or two, because now I can’t stop thinking about your tongue being in my mouth. And how do you feel about phone sex, yay or nay?

  Wren: LOL! I feel that maybe it’s time for me to shut my phone off and go to sleep.

  Random Guy I Kissed: Probably a wise decision. About that date… You free tomorrow night?

  Wren: I might be. What did you have in mind?

  Random Guy I Kissed: Like I’m really going to tell you everything I have planned for our first date.

  Wren: It’s only been fifteen minutes since I left you. You already have our date planned?

  Random Guy I Kissed: Sweetheart, I’ve been planning our first date since I was thirteen years old. Brace yourself. I plan on burning you a compilation CD with all the best O-Town songs I illegally downloaded from the internet. I’m gonna page my bros on their beepers so I can give them the 4-1-1, and then I’m gonna log onto MySpace and pick out just the right profile song to convey my feelings. I’ll probably kiss you under the moonlight while Enya plays in the background. Other than that, you’re just gonna have to be surprised. I’ll pick you up at 7.

  Wren: I can’t believe I thought I was the weird one.

  Wren: Oh, and Shepherd? I’m definitely a yay on the phone sex. Could be fun. I’ve never tried it before, so I don’t know if I’ll be any good at it. Is clothing optional? I’m assuming touching is allowed, right, or what would be the point? Do we do it on a phone call or over text? I don’t know if I can concentrate if I’m typing with one hand and touching myself with the other. Is it a back and forth kind of thing, like you go first, and when you finish, it’s my turn? You know what? I’ll just google it.

  Random Guy I Kissed: Jesus Christ, Wren. Help me. I’m dying.

  Wren: Always with the dramatics. Sleep tight. See you tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 10

  Wren

  “We’ve got some fan interference on that play.”

  “I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it’s been three days now without a word, so screw him.”

  “He’s still hot, but he’s a limp dick motherfucker! I told you it was a good idea to burn that sweatshirt and send a message that you will not be trifled with!”

  “I’m so mad I let it slip you were a fan. His stupid ego is clearly bigger than his tiny dick now.”

  “Seriously, who does he think he is? Coming back to town and asking you on a date like he’s doing you a favor. Oh, hey, babe, it’s cool ’cause I’m single now, yo. Fuck him!”

  “You stood there in front of him crying your eyes out, telling him you’ve had a thing for him forever, and he just let you walk away! And then he hounds me all over town trying to find out how you are. How do you think she is, bitch? Okay, so he only stopped me once when I was coming out of the pharmacy, and he was really sweet and looked really sad, but whatever. Fuck him!”

  “Sip and Bitch in the morning is rough, but I am digging these mimosas before work. What a time to be alive. Fuck Shepherd Oliver and his selfish yet hot ass! Sip and Bitch, ladies!”

  Tess and Birdie finally stop bitching about Shepherd long enough to clink glasses and sip the orange juice and champagne I splurged on this morning. I can’t even be mad they haven’t bitched about their own men since they got here and have spent all morning bitching about mine instead.

  Mine… Shepherd is mine…

  That thought just makes the smile I’ve had on my face since I woke up grow even bigger, one hand coming up to press my fingertips to my lips as I top off Tess and Birdie’s glasses with more champagne with my other hand. Considering I called an emergency Sip and Bitch at the ass-crack of dawn in my kitchen after Owen left for school and before everyone has to be at work, I felt bribery was necessary. Especially because I ran out of the Dip and Twist fifteen minutes into Sip and Bitch last night with a lie about Owen not feeling well. And especially with what I’m about to tell them after I let them go on and on in a rage since they got here. I know I should have told them about the messages as soon as I finished reading them last night while Tess took fifteen minutes to complain about Bodhi leaving the toilet seat up, but I didn’t. I just wanted to make a decision about Shepherd on my own without their input. I needed to trust my own instincts, and I think it worked out quite well for once. I just hope they feel the same way.

  Pushing the plate closer to them of fresh, homemade donuts I made before the sun came up when I couldn’t sleep from replaying that kiss over and over all night long, I’m hoping it will soften the blow as well. They are really raging on my behalf… while I’m standing here on the other side of the counter from them, thinking about every moment of that kiss for the hundredth time. The way he felt pressed up against me, the way his mouth moved against mine, the way his body moved against mine, that jerk of his hips between my thighs….

  My kitchen is suddenly filled with quiet moaning instead of cursing the ground Shepherd walks on as each woman double-fists a donut, sitting on my stools on the other side of my counter, while I shift nervously from foot to foot where I stand. Just like I hoped, Tess and Birdie’s faces immediately soften from their Shepherd rage like I fed them something magical. And these aren’t even the maple bacon donuts from the mainland that Birdie is obsessed with and Palmer always butters her up with. They’re just a tube of Pillsbury biscuit dough that I fried in oil and then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. But I know the power these donuts wield, since I already ate an entire tube
of deep-fried dough before they got here to calm my nerves. It was working up until now.

  “Why are you smiling so much?” Tess suddenly asks around a mouthful of donut.

  Reaching out, I snag one of the donut holes and pop it into my mouth so I’m not smiling anymore.

  “And why are we the only ones doing all the bitching, when you’ve been the one out-bitching us the last couple of nights, and you’re the one who called this emergency Sip and Bitch?” Birdie questions, setting her half-eaten donut back on the plate and leaning forward to rest her elbows on the counter to study me closer. “Have you finally snapped? Maybe three Sip and Bitches in a row were too much.”

  Clearing my throat and fidgeting my feet, I look down at one of the paper towels I ripped off the roll to use for napkins. I stare at my fingers as I start tearing the paper towel apart into tiny little pieces so I don’t have to see the looks on their faces when I speak.

  “Well… it’s a little hard to bitch about the man now, after I went to his cottage last night, he kissed the holy shit out of me, and if I hadn’t pumped the brakes, I might have let him round all the bases and slide into home right up against the side of his house, and I can positively confirm that his dick is neither tiny nor limp, so who wants more champagne?” I blurt out all at once, grabbing the bottle and holding it in the air with a big, toothy smile on my face.

  There’s a long enough bout of silence after my confession that I have plenty of time to relive each and every delicious moment of that kiss once more before all hell breaks loose around me. Birdie and Tess are shouting so loudly I almost want to cover my ears with my hands. Instead, while they rant and rave across the counter from me about how I’ve lost my goddamn mind for letting another man walk all over me, and how now they’re really going to light all his shit on fire for taking advantage of me, I calmly set the champagne down, turn, and walk away from the counter.