Finding The Love Back

by Adina Jan

  From her erogenous zones on the back of her knees to the elbows, Christian made sure he paid attention to what Ava needed. Some places that Christian accessed, Ava didn’t even know existed. Why was this man able to pleasure her in such a way that was threatening to make her not want to let him go?

  He was so attentive, asking her if she was okay and if what he was doing felt good every time they changed positions. Ava lost total track of time while there with Christian. It was as if they were on some isolated island all alone, just the two of them. Since it was day time, it was impossible to hide out in his room in the dark so they were able to explore each other’s bodies in the daylight of the afternoon.

  Christian didn’t hesitate to let her know that he was impressed with her curves. He doted on her and she enjoyed every minute of it.

  Ava loved that Christian was commanding in bed, but she decided to turn the tables on him and take control. She pushed her lover on to his back and jumped on top of him. Lowering herself down on his stiffness, she savored the feeling of his entering her. She never knew that it was possible to feel so comfortable, not only with herself, but with her lover. Once he was inside of her, she found the right motion and began swirling her hips. It was driving him crazy to feel her motion on top of him.

  They were looking each other in the eyes as she bounced on top of him. Christian rose up on his elbows and worked his hips as best he could beneath her. He loved the way that she closed her eyes and threw her head back, savoring his flesh inside of hers. Her blonde hair hung freely down her back and she looked like a goddess there making love to him.

  He had started to understand her body and knew from the gripping feeling of her sugar walls that Ava was about to have an orgasm. It would be the fourth so far that afternoon. Ava seemed to be insatiable. Her sticky sweetness overflowed and she rode the wave to orgasm. It was hard to contain himself when he heard her guttural moan signaling release.

  Christian knew that he would not last much longer due to the feeling of the warm wetness raining down on him. He grabbed Ava’s hips and commanded her movements. The erratic movements of her grinding coupled with the vision of her arched back leaving her full breasts on display, bouncing up and down as she rose in the same motion on his stiffness sent Christian into a tailspin and he could no longer hold back.

  Clutching his lover, he would not let her move away from him and he held her closely as he released. Both of them yelled out in ecstasy. They had climaxed together and Christian knew that making love to her had been the right thing to do to show her that he still loved her.

  He only hoped that after he showed her how he felt, she would feel the same.

  Chapter 11

  “Christian Carter, I had no idea you could cook so well,” Ava said as she ate the scrambled eggs and waffles that Christian sat on her plate. She’d topped the waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. The eggs were seasoned to perfection and Christian offered a cup of coffee to wash everything down.

  “There’s a lot about each other that we have to get to know, Ava Marie.” His stare was intense as he fixed his own plate of food. It made Ava blush.

  Christian laughed at the look on Ava’s face. She was a natural beauty and didn’t need a ton of makeup to be beautiful. He couldn’t help but lean over the table and kiss her on the lips.

  She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his lips touching hers.

  “I could make this a habit for you,” Christian said.

  Ava’s head was swirling. “This is all happening so fast.”

  Christian sat back and sipped on his coffee. “That’s what happens when you’re in love, Ava Marie.”

  She wasn’t sure how to respond. Was she in love with Christian? Was that even possible?

  She shook her head. “We’re just seeing each other after so many years. I don’t think we can jump to conclusions,” Ava replied nervously.

  “Why not? We’re grown adults, Ava Marie. If your heart says that you are in love, then so be it. I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting any younger. I’ve prided myself off of taking risks and following my instinct in business and I’ve not been wrong once. I don’t know how I could be wrong about this.”

  Ava opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She wasn’t sure what Christian was really trying to tell her.

  “What are you saying, Christian?”

  He set his coffee cup down and non chalantly continued to eat his meal. “Ava Marie, I’m saying that even if you don’t say it out of your mouth, you are in love with me like I’m in love with you. It’s never gone away and now that we are here together, and especially after making love this morning, the feelings between us are not going away. So we may as well deal with them.”

  For a moment, the only sound in the kitchen was their forks clanging on the plates.

  “This is so confusing,” Ava said softly.

  Christian reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “Are you seeing someone else?”

  His brown eyes begged her for the truth. Ava could be up front and tell him about Bobby T, but what was there to really tell? She had planned to break things off with him when she got home anyway. The way that she felt about Bobby T had nothing to do with Christian.

  She shook her head. “Not really. There’s this guy I’ve been, well, hanging out with. There’s no passion. No spark. No fire between us. He’s a nice guy, but not the type that I can have a romantic relationship with.”

  A sly grin almost came over Christian’s face, but he masked it. The last thing he wanted to hear was the Ava was in a relationship. He spoke to her, eyebrow raised. “So there’s no one in your life. Good. So what’s the hold up?”

  Christian squeezed Ava’s hand harder. He was afraid that he would hear something he didn’t want to.

  Ava sighed. “I don’t really know. I just,” she paused. “We have such totally different lives. How could we make this work?”

  Christian held her hand as he stared into Ava’s eyes. “Ava Marie, I would follow you anywhere you go. I could easily make a home for myself in Atlanta. Actually, I was going to have to anyway because my job is going to be based there as of next month. You travel for a living and so do I. If we are committed to one another, I’m sure we can make it work. What do you think?”

  Ava exhaled. The last thing she had expected coming home to Conner was that she would meet up with her childhood sweetheart and be making such a life changing decision.

  “This is so sudden. I didn’t think that coming back to deal with my dad’s illness would end up with you and I, well, you know. I wasn’t expecting this, Christian.”

  Christian squeezed Ava’s hand and brought it to his lips, gently kissing her skin.

  “That’s the funny thing about love, Ava Marie. It catches us in the most unexpected places.”

  Chapter 12

  Christian kissed Ava before she unlocked the door to her father’s house. She swore he was ready to take her right there on the doorstep. When he let her up for air, he promised to be back over that evening to check on her. Her father would be coming home the next day and there was a lot of preparation that needed to take place. The home help staff would be coming over to set up a bed and some other equipment that would be necessary for her father’s rehabilitation and Christian wanted to be there to help.

  Ava waved goodbye as Christian drove off. Her stomach fluttered. She hadn’t had butterflies because of a man in ages. She thought back for a moment and realized that the last time she’d had butterflies was when she was dating Christian. Sure there had been men that had caught her attention, but she hadn’t had a serious relationship at all in her twenties because she’d spent all of her time working and building her brand. Now that she was in her thirties, wasn’t she entitled to experiencing all the love and romance that a serious relationship had to offer?

  She rubbed Dolce, who met her at the door. After making sure he had enough to eat, Ava flopped down o
n the couch and pulled out her cell. She realized for the first time that she hadn’t checked her email all day and that she hadn’t talked to anyone in relationship to her work. A bit of anxiety crept in, then she decided that it was good to take a break sometime.

  Having faith in the fact that she had such great employees at Ava M. Consulting was a testament to the fact that she had chosen the right people to work side by side with her. She had complete trust in Lindsey and Lisa. As she flipped through her emails, she saw that Lindsey had wowed the client and that everything was under control.

  She closed her eyes for a moment to take everything in. First she took the trip to her hometown after years of being away so that way she could see about her father, the man that she hadn’t really spoken to in over a decade. Once she came back to Conner, she encountered her childhood sweetheart, Christian Carter and that after spending a day together visiting their old stomping grounds, they had gone back to his house and made sweet, passionate love.

  Ava wasn’t sure how to handle things. It seemed that once again her career was stable, but her personal life was rocky and confusing as always. She knew for sure that she didn’t have any romantic feelings for Bobby T and that the feelings that she didn’t have for Bobby T didn’t have anything to do with the way that she thought she was feeling about Christian.

  She knew that she had something that she had to do. Picking up the phone, Ava dialed Bobby’s number. Part of her hoped that he wouldn’t pick up the phone, but she knew that she had to break things off with him.

  “Hello, Ava. It’s so good to hear from you today. How is everything?” Bobby sounded like he was in a good mood as usual.

  “Hey Bobby. Things are okay so far. My dad will be home tomorrow. I just have a lot to do to prep for him coming home.”

  “If you need any help, I would love to come and do what I can,” Bobby offered.

  “Thanks, Bobby. You are so sweet, but I’m doing fine. Look, I hoped you had a minute to talk.”

  “Uh sure, what’s on your mind?”

  Ava paused for a second and then realized that she shouldn’t hold out on the inevitable.

  “Bobby, I think we’ve had a great time since we’ve been hanging out. I just don’t see our relationship going any further.” She blurted out the last few words.

  “Oh wow. Well-,”

  There was a brief silence between them.

  “I hope I didn’t hurt you, Bobby. You’re a great guy. There’s just no passion between us.” Ava began to speak and the words flowed easier. “I just know what I want in a relationship and although you would be a wonderful guy for some lucky woman, it’s just not working for me.”

  “Believe it or not, Ava, I understand. I appreciate you being so up front with me and being so honest. I would love for us to stay friends. After all, the social scene in Atlanta is very small. We’re bound to run into each other sooner or later. What do you say?”

  Ava smiled. “I think that would be wonderful, Bobby.”

  “Well, I guess you have a lot to do there, so I’ll see you around?”

  “Sure thing, Bobby. I’ll talk to you later.”

  They ended the phone call and Ava felt a load lifted from her shoulders. She checked her watch and knew that the home help staff should be arriving shortly to help her prep for her father’s homecoming.

  They were scheduled to be there around eight o’clock that evening and they promised that it wouldn’t take longer than about an hour. She hoped that they would be on time and that they would be quick because she was tired and had a lot going on for the next day.

  Ava didn’t know how things would go when her father came home. Reginald Collier was never an easy man to get along with and now they would be under the same room again after almost fifteen years. Part of Ava looked forward to having her father home and part of her was terrified about what would happen with them under the same roof.

  She knew that she could handle whatever came her way where her father was concerned. It would be a challenge to rebuild their relationship, but after she had seen him at the hospital, she knew that they were at least on their way to making things better. After sitting there by his bedside and holding his hand as the tear rolled down his eye, she knew that things would be different between them. And she knew that their relationship would be better from now on.

  Coming back to Conner hadn’t been as hard as she thought it would be. At first she thought it would be that no one in Conner would welcome her back, but Ava soon found that Conner was just as welcoming as she left it. It wasn’t that the town didn’t want her back. She had to admit to herself that she had abandoned her old life and that it was up to her to reintroduce herself. She realized that she didn’t really have to leave completely to have a life of her own. She could have visited more often. She couldn’t blame her father completely for the rift in their relationship. She hadn’t done anything to repair it on her end. Instead, Ava Marie from Conner, GA turned into Ava M that lived in Atlanta, GA where she worked hard and played harder.

  Did she really have to sever all ties with the familiarity of her childhood in order to be an adult? For so long she thought that was the answer, but now she was starting to think that it was the wrong answer. It was obvious that running from her past didn’t mean that she would never see it again. Out of sight, out of mind was right, but what happened when things and people you thought were in your rearview were in plain sight again?

  Ava turned on a movie and curled up on the couch with Dolce. A nap was in order before the evening came. She had at least three hours before the home help staff showed up. Before she knew it, it was seven thirty and she was waking up to Dolce standing in front of her wagging his tail and whining.

  There was a knock at the door. “Great, they are early. Come on, Dolce. Let’s get the door.”

  Dolce followed Ava to the door. There was another knock right before she flung the door open, ready to greet the home help staff.

  “Oh!” Ava exclaimed. She was surprised to see who was standing in front of her.

  “I told you I would be back to hang out with you this evening.”

  Christian stood there in front of her with a bag of take out from Mattie’s Diner and a beautiful smile on his face. He was gorgeous standing there with just a simple white tee shirt and a pair of distressed jeans and loafers.

  Ava opened the door wider. “You sure did.” She was happy that Christian had kept his word. She could definitely use the company this evening.

  After the staff left, she turned on the television and she sat down with Christian to eat and watch television. She had always enjoyed a meal from Mattie’s growing up. Christian had even brought her some of Mattie’s famous peach pie. It was a little slice of heaven.

  “You want to do something with me?”

  Christian couldn’t read the sly look on Ava’s face. “What do you have in mind?”

  Ava hopped up off of the couch and beckoned for Christian to follow her. They were followed by Dolce through the sunroom and to the back screen door. It was dark already outside and they were enveloped by the quiet peace of country living.

  “Remember we used to lay out here for hours as kids?” A smile spread over Ava’s face as she spoke, remembering the times she and Christian used to lie out in the grass staring up at the stars. They would stare off into the cosmos making plans for what life would be like when they grew up.

  Ava found a spot to lie down and patted the grass next to her so Christian could take his spot. Dolce settled closely by both of them. A summer breeze floated across their skin.

  “Wow, I haven’t done this in ages,” Christian said. As they lay back, they enjoyed the view of a clear night sky.

  “Nice isn’t it?” Ava remarked. Christian nodded as he reclined with his hands folded behind his head.

  “I mean, not just looking up into the stars like we used to, but the fact that after all of these years that we can still come together and be friends.”

  Christian looke
d over at Ava after she spoke. “Ava Marie, we’ve been in each other’s lives since we were kids. I don’t think you really let a bond like that go totally.”

  Ava loved the way that her name rolled off his tongue.

  “And just to let you know, Ava Marie. We will always be more than friends.”

  She closed her eyes. “I know that, Christian.” She couldn’t believe that she’d admitted her feelings to him aloud.

  “So what are we going to do about that, Ava Marie?” Christian sat up on one elbow and looked over at Ava.

  “I don’t know how we are going to do this. I just know that I want it to happen. I mean, this you and me thing. I know it has to happen.”