Do Over

by Mari Carr

She grinned, but her smile faded when she watched Troy pull a pair of handcuffs from the bag. “Oh,” she breathed.

  He walked back to her, indicating with his finger that he wanted her to twist around and lay on the bed the proper way. She moved into the middle of the mattress and he bent over her, pulling her hands above her head once more. She lay still as he wove the chain on the cuffs around a slat on the headboard, then she heard the snick as he snapped the bracelet part around each of her wrists. Instinct drove her to tug on the metal. The cuffs were lined with some sort of soft leather, so her skin was protected.

  “They’re secure,” he said, pointing out the obvious fact she’d just discerned for herself. She was definitely trapped. “You won’t get free until I decide to let you go.”

  “And when will that be?”

  He reached down and roughly pinched one of her turgid nipples.

  “Ouch,” she cried.

  “No questions. Remember?”

  She nodded, trying to figure out why her pussy was begging her to ask him something else. The slight pain of his pinch seemed to have a direct connection to her clit. She squeezed her legs together, wishing she could use her hands to ease the need.

  Troy slapped the side of her hip. “Hold still. Open your legs.”

  “But—”

  He slapped her other hip. “No talking.”

  She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could utter a sound, he leaned down and took her lips in a crushing kiss. For a second, she feared he was bruising her lips, then he put his tongue into action and she decided she didn’t give a shit if he did. She returned his kiss, their tongues battling for dominance and he didn’t pull away until she was gasping for air.

  “You’re going to be a bit tougher to train than I thought.”

  A very large part of her took exception to the word train until he reached down to cup her breasts. He brought his lips into play, sucking on her nipples until she was crying out, pleading for him to fuck her. Her clit was pulsing painfully from the neglect, the need.

  “God, Troy. Please,” she yelled again, but he ignored her, intent on tormenting her at his own pace.

  Finally, after a lifetime, his lips began to travel south. Kneeling between her outstretched legs, she shivered when he blew a steady stream of air on her clit. “You need to cool off.”

  She threw her head against the pillow and struggled not to call her dear, beloved husband every nasty name she’d ever heard.

  When he looked up and gave her a smug grin, she clenched her teeth against the steady stream of obscenities floating through her mind. He was testing her, teasing her. She knew that as well as she knew the moment he took these cuffs off her hands, all bets were off.

  He ran one finger through the short hair on her pussy. “Maybe it would help if you counted to ten.”

  “Maybe it would help if you kissed it better.”

  He laughed at her suggestion. “Maybe it would.” He bent forward and took her clit between his teeth with a sharp nip that took her by surprise before he used his tongue to soothe away the pain.

  Her eyes closed of their own volition and she felt, more than saw, the brilliant flash of white light that accompanied her immediate climax. One touch and he’d driven her over the edge.

  Troy seemed unfazed by her orgasm, instead continuing his assault on her senses. Each bite he delivered was followed by a soft kiss, each pinch was soothed by a delicate rub. He used her body against her, bringing her to the brink two more times. Each time he refused to acknowledge her trembling cries, her thrashing, and instead he continued to play until she thought she’d go insane with the intensity of the pleasure.

  When she thought she was completely drained, his cock brushed against her opening and her traitorous body came roaring back to life. He lifted her legs over his shoulders, his hands supporting her ass as he drove in with one hard, deep thrust.

  Once seated, he held for just a moment, waiting for her at last. When her eyes met his, she saw how much this night meant to him and she felt as if she were seeing him clearly for the first time.

  “I’m going to fuck you now,” he said simply.

  She nodded.

  “I can’t be gentle.”

  Her voice, hoarse from yelling, betrayed her and all she could do was nod once more.

  Her gesture freed him as he pounded into her body with a strength she didn’t know he possessed. She was vaguely aware of the fact she was screaming as he pushed her over into one long, painfully beautiful orgasm. The clenching contractions of her inner muscles seemed to push him into a different realm. He gripped her thighs, holding them against her chest as he opened her up for an even deeper fuck.

  For a moment, she thought she saw stars and feared she’d pass out as she came one last time. He followed her into the moment, filling her with jet after jet of hot come, until he collapsed on top of her.

  It wasn’t until she felt her arms being lowered that she realized she had fallen asleep. Troy had cleaned her and covered her in a blanket, yet neither act had roused her until he unlocked the cuffs and pulled her into his arms.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. Her body was numb from his hard use, but she knew she’d let him do it all over again in a heartbeat if he asked her to.

  “So okay,” she whispered.

  He kissed her brow. “You’re amazing. Just when I think it’s not possible for me to love you more, you find a way to burrow even deeper into my heart.”

  She smiled tiredly at his admission, but her mind felt as mushy as her muscles. “Ditto,” she replied and she fell asleep once more as Troy’s chest rumbled with his soft laughter.

  ***

  Faith woke up the next day, surprised by the brightness of the sun outside. Usually she was up with the birds in the still dim hours of early morning, but it would appear her husband had officially worn her out. Glancing over, she found him snoring softly, looking exactly like the man she’d woken up next to every morning for years. But this morning, something felt different, better. Ordinarily she’d get up and make a pot of coffee, reading the newspaper and playing FreeCell on her computer until he woke up and joined her.

  This morning, despite the stiffness in her muscles, she was tempted to wake him up and demand he continue the amazing sex he’d initiated her into last night. His eyes opened slowly and found her staring at him.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Wainwright.”

  “Good morning,” she said, clearing the sleep from her throat. “Sleep well?”

  “Like the dead. That was quite a workout you gave me. Figure I’m lucky I didn’t have a heart attack.”

  She laughed. “Feel up to another round?”

  He looked at her in disbelief, then worry. “Are you kidding me? Aren’t you sore? Faith, I was more than a little hard on you last night.”

  She wiggled a bit, trying to determine if she was in pain. Problem was the second Troy said hard, her thoughts went straight to the gutter. “I don’t think I would have enjoyed a little hard. Seems to me you were very hard…and very good.”

  Troy closed his eyes and she thought for a moment he was praying. “All the wasted years,” he muttered. “Dammit, Faith. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but we don’t have time.”

  Faith narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t we have time?”

  “Tour’s not over yet.”

  He glanced at the clock beside the bed and hopped out of bed before she could try to seduce him out of his damn plans. “Troy.”

  “Come on, sweetheart. Rise and shine. We’re already behind schedule. I’m gonna grab a quick shower and get dressed. While you’re getting ready, I’ll run out and pick us up a couple of cups of coffee and some donuts.”

  “You had me at shower,” she said, rising from the bed, letting the sheet drop away.

  Troy shook his head. “Didn’t I specify? I’m showering alone. With the door locked. Behave yourself, Faith, or you’re going to find yourself lying facedown over my lap while I
show you what happens to naughty girls.”

  Her pussy fluttered at the thought and she grinned.

  “Shit,” Troy said, turning for the bathroom.

  He slammed the door and she distinctly heard the lock snap into place.

  ***

  Despite Faith’s best efforts to seduce him, Troy remained true to his original schedule. Luckily the beautiful, sunny day snapped her out of her bad temper as they rode through town with the windows on the truck rolled down. Troy was singing along with Toby Keith on the radio, and she had to admit she felt happier and more relaxed than she had in months. It was amazing what a night of incredible sex could do for a person.

  She played the night over in her mind, not paying attention to their direction until Troy pulled the truck to the side of the road and parked.

  “You were a million miles away,” he said, tapping her nose playfully.

  She shook her head. “Not that far.” She looked outside and realized they were parked outside their first apartment. “Hillman Apartments.”

  Troy grinned. “Yep. Only doing a drive by here. It’s time for you to open the album again. Read the next letter while we head to the next stop.”

  Putting the car in drive, he pulled away from the curb as she turned to the next page. Happy tears sprung to her eyes when she found a picture of Jackson and Jenna sitting outside on the grass in their Easter finest. Jackson, the very protective four-year-old brother, was sitting with his arm around his one-year-old sister. Both of them were smiling widely and Jenna had a pink plastic Easter egg in her hand. Faith ran her finger across the picture, touching their faces and recalling how soft and wonderful it had been to caress their baby skin. Discreetly, she brushed away a tear, turning her attention to Troy’s letter.

  My dearest Faith,

  I can still remember the night you told me you were pregnant with Jackson. We were living in that cardboard box of an apartment on Hillman. It was well after midnight and I came home from working the late shift, surprised to find you awake and waiting for me. You just looked at me and said, “I’m pregnant.”

  I don’t think I realized exactly how much those words were going to change my life. I mean I was excited and happy. I wanted to make a family with you, Faith—never doubt that. But for the first time in my life, I also experienced true fear. Until that moment, I’d lived like most young men do, believing they are invincible, untouchable, immortal. Let’s face it—the center of my universe was ultimately me. You were, of course, an integral part of my life, but the axis of my existence rotated solely on my wants, needs and desires.

  Those two words changed all of that. Suddenly, I realized I would be responsible for another human being—completely responsible—and everything I’d come to think about the world shifted, changed and I was forced to become less selfish and more selfless. Quite a transition for a twenty-two-year-old to make. And once again, I had no answers, so I looked to you to guide me.

  Even from that first night, you seemed so at ease, so comfortable with the changes happening in your body and in our lives. For nine months, I simply listened and followed as you prepared us to raise our child. I loved watching your belly grow round, loved talking to the baby inside and feeling him kick. Every day was a miracle. I learned the basics of how to be a parent from my folks, but as I watched you with Jackson and Jenna, I discovered how to love unconditionally, without limits. You are a natural mother. No child in the world could ever have had a better mom than my two kids did and I owe you more for that than I could ever hope to repay.

  I’ve received hundreds of gifts in my lifetime—from ties on Christmas to a clunky used car on my seventeenth birthday. None of them compare to the ultimate gift you gave me—fatherhood. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without Jackson and Jenna.

  I love you,

  Troy

  Chapter Five

  As she finished reading the letter, Faith let her eyes drift back to the picture of her son and daughter. She simply couldn’t look at Troy yet, couldn’t speak without dissolving into tears. Her mother had been right. All these years, she’d thought her husband was easygoing, unobservant. Turned out he’d understood their lives better than she had.

  They drove in silence for several minutes. Troy was focused on the road and she suspected he knew how close she was to losing it. Finally, he turned the truck into a driveway and shut off the ignition.

  “We’re here.”

  She looked up. They were parked in front of their first home. They’d moved in to this house on Anders Street the day Jackson turned one month old. The apartment had been too small to even consider raising a child in and Troy had insisted his son have a yard to play in.

  “Our first real home,” she said, her voice thick with the emotions fighting to get out. “I loved this little house.” They’d stayed here for eleven years, spent the majority of their children’s younger years in the place until Troy’s transfer at work sent them away from Carlysle, away from their friends and family.

  “Wanna go in?”

  She looked at him with surprise. “Can we? I mean do you think the people who live here now would care?”

  Troy opened the door, crossing to help her out of the truck. “Guy who bought this place from us moved out a couple years ago. With the economy in the shitter, he couldn’t sell so he’s been renting it out. Turns out the last renters moved out a few months ago and he hasn’t found anyone else to move in. So, I rented it for the day.”

  “You rented it? For a day?”

  Troy shrugged, but she couldn’t believe all the time he must have spent planning this perfect weekend for her. Tears sprung to her eyes.

  “This is your fault, you know,” she said, when he laughed.

  “More of those happy tears?”

  “I can’t believe there are any more tears left in me.”

  Troy took her hand and led her to the front porch. Bending down, he lifted a flowerpot and retrieved a key. “Right where it’s supposed to be.”

  He unlocked the door, but before she could step over the threshold, Troy bent down to pick her up.

  “What are you doing?” She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. Try as she may, she couldn’t remember her husband ever picking her up like this.

  “I couldn’t carry you over the threshold the first time because you had Jackson in your arms.”

  “So this is another do over?”

  He grinned at her use of his term. “Yep. We’re really correcting a lot of mistakes here, aren’t we? Another day or two and we could have every screw up from the last twenty-five years sorted out.”

  “That would be nice,” she said, struggling to think of a single mistake that needed to be fixed.

  He put her down in the front foyer and Faith turned to look at her beloved first home. “It’s still the same.”

  “Not exactly,” Troy said as he led her into the living room. “Mercifully that brown shag carpeting has been replaced with Berber.”

  “Oh my God. I’d forgotten about that horrible carpet. Terrible stuff to try to clean.”

  “Wish we’d had money when we lived here. I always thought this place would really look good with hardwood floors.”

  Faith smiled at his comment. Her husband was the consummate builder. For the past twenty-five years, he’d worked his way through the ranks at the construction company, now serving as master carpenter and supervisor. He’d recently started talking to his boss about buying half the business and expanding it. Troy was the hardest worker she’d ever met and one of the smartest men on the planet. She was so proud of all he’d accomplished with just a high-school diploma and at least two dozen trade and management classes taken at the local community college over the years. He was constantly striving to better himself, to learn more so that he could be a valuable employee and a successful supervisor.

  “That would have looked nice. I wonder…” She drifted through the living room to the door that led out on to the back patio. “It’s still t
here.” She smiled as she spotted the wooden playset Troy had designed and built for their kids.

  Troy grinned when he spotted what she was looking at. “What do you know about that? Spent two months designing that thing.”

  “The kids loved it. I can’t begin to count how many hours Jackson spent on that tire swing and the monkey bars.”

  Troy nodded. “And if you couldn’t find Jenna in the house, it was always a good bet she’d be in that sandbox.” He draped his arm around her shoulders as they looked around the large backyard and reminisced about all the kids’ birthday parties and family picnics they’d held there.

  “It was a great house to raise kids in,” Faith said as Troy gestured for her to lead the way back into the house.

  “The perfect house. What do you say we check out the rest of the rooms? And then…” He paused as she turned to look at him.

  “And then?” she prodded.

  “And then I have a surprise for you in our old bedroom.”

  She laughed, running her hand across the front of his pants. “I’ll just bet you do. You realize I could begin to get spoiled by all these surprises.”

  Troy shrugged, pulling her hand away from his cock and kissing it. “I’m a guy, Faith. We don’t think of sex as spoiling, but more as sustenance. Besides, I wanted to make this weekend special.”

  She moved closer, wrapping her arms around his waist and placing a soft kiss on his lips. “It’s been the most special weekend of my life.”

  “Good. But…” he placed a quick kiss on the end of her nose, “it’s not over yet.”

  They toured through the rest of the house at a leisurely pace, each room bringing back a plethora of memories.

  When they entered their old bedroom, Faith gasped. Like the rest of the house, the room was bare, but in the middle of the floor, someone had laid out a plush, quilted bedspread and pillows. Next to it was a picnic lunch, complete with chilled wine, fried chicken, potato salad and chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert.

  “How on earth?” The food was fresh, the scent of the warm chicken assaulting her senses and making her mouth water.