THE MORNING SIDE OF DAWN

by Justine Davis

  Then, giving Dar a sideways look, she added, "I was lucky you were here." His mouth twisted into a grimace. Before he could make the disclaimer she knew was coming, she batted her lashes at him outrageously, and said with dramatic flair, "My hero!"

  "Oh, please," he groaned, but he was laughing as he said it. Cassie felt the rumble of it even before she heard it, and couldn't help smiling up at him. She resumed her stroking caress of his back, her fingertips tracing the strong planes and curves of fit muscle, her hands curling to cup the taut swell of his buttocks. She continued until he made a sound low in his throat, a sound she'd come to know, a sound that made her start to tingle in places that were already preparing for the eagerly awaited joining of their bodies.

  "So," she said when she was sure he was sufficiently distracted, "what do you think I should call my agency?"

  "What?" he asked, as if he'd been so deeply into savoring her touch that he hadn't even heard her. The thought made her smile inwardly.

  "I asked what you thought."

  "I think," Dar said as she shifted her hips and pulled him closer, "you're trying to kill me, but I'm not sure I care. You can— Oh, yeah, like that."

  Cassie began to move rhythmically, savoring the look of sheer pleasure on Dar's face as her body caressed the rapidly hardening flesh caught between them. Only minutes ago, their passion had crested in an explosive climax that had left them both drained. Dar was still sprawled atop her, yet she was as hungry for him now as always. And for the moment, the discussion they'd been having was forgotten.

  She let one hand slide around his hip, then between them. Dar lifted himself slightly, in response to her movement; it hadn't taken her long to convince him that she loved touching him, and he was more than willing to oblige her.

  "You know," Cassie said casually as her hand closed around him, "I read somewhere that some researchers think phantom pains aren't really that at all."

  Dar looked at her, clearly startled at her words, or perhaps at the moment she'd chosen to say them. "Wha-at?" It came out in two syllables as she began to gently stroke the expanding length of him.

  "I read that they now think the pains are the result of the brain adjusting, that the cells next to the ones that used to control the amputated part see that they don't have anything to do now, and take them over to help do their own job."

  "Cassie," Dar said, his jaw tight as he shifted his body sideways to make it easier for her to continue her tender stroking, "is this something we really have to talk about right now?"

  "It's very relevant," she admonished him with mock severity. She accompanied the words with a long downward caress that ended with her cupping rounded male flesh that was quickly drawing high and tight with need. She massaged him gently, in the way she'd learned made him groan with pleasure. He did groan, his hips moving as he arched, rubbing himself against her palm.

  "Anyway," she said casually, as though she hadn't even noticed his reaction to her touch, "they say that the phantom pains happen because the supposedly superior part of the brain doesn't understand that those cells are doing something else now, that they're helping the neighboring cells."

  "Cassie!"

  It burst from him through gritted teeth as she gently squeezed, then slid her hand up his erect length to rub her thumb over the tip of flesh now rigid beneath her fingers, and moist with his own urgent response to her caresses.

  "So," she continued calmly, "don't you think that whatever part of the body that's getting that extra help from the brain would work that much better?"

  "I can't think at all when you do that," he complained.

  "Dar, this is important," she said, inwardly thrilling at how much trouble he was having concentrating while her hands were on him.

  "Right now, nothing's more important than this," he muttered, and levered himself over her.

  "Exactly my point," Cassie said as she parted her thighs and caught him between them in an intimate embrace.

  Dar groaned as, braced on his remaining knee, he began to move, stroking himself across that moist, heated, most feminine part of her. "If there is a point, I wish you'd get to it."

  "The point is what part of the brain those cells that used to control your lower legs and feet are next to."

  He went still for a moment, looking down at her. "What?"

  "And why when we make love, you say you can feel it down to your toes, even if they're not there anymore,"

  His eyes widened. "Are you saying … what are you saying?"

  "That maybe you really do feel it … to your toes."

  "You mean that that neighbor part of the brain you were talking about controls…?"

  Cassie nodded, clasping him tighter with her thighs. "Exactly. Some people experience pain, but others…"

  "Feel it down to their missing toes?" he asked softly.

  She nodded. Then, with her most solemn expression, she said seriously, "Therefore, I think it only fair to warn you that I'll be expecting a great deal from you, husband mine. I mean with all those extra brain cells working on the endeavor, I should think you'd be able to … er, rise to the occasion rather easily. And often."

  He stared at her for a moment, and she wondered if she'd gone too far with her teasing. But then she saw the twinkle of amusement begin in his dark eyes.

  "I hadn't noticed any problem in that area," he said, pointedly shifting his hips to nudge her with his proof.

  "Oh, I haven't, either," she said breezily. "But I just thought you should know I'll expect this pace to be maintained."

  He laughed then, loud and joyously, and Cassie drank it in as thirsty sand absorbed precious water. Then she hugged him, long and hard.

  "I'll see to that," Dar said. Then he moved, swiftly, sheathing himself in her to the hilt and driving a gasp of swift, pure pleasure from her.

  "Oh, yes," she whispered when she caught her breath, "I'm sure you will."

  And much later, when they lay in complete, rapturous exhaustion, she asked, "Well?"

  Dar chuckled. "I think they were right," he said as he shifted to his side and pulled her close against him, her back to his chest, her bottom tucked into the bend of his hips. "I definitely felt that all the way to my nonexistent toes."

  Cassie sighed happily. "Me, too," she said, snuggling closer, tangling her legs with his in the way that had become her habit.

  The first time she had done it, she had felt him stiffen when she had captured his abbreviated leg between hers. She had thought about it all day, and that night had set about convincing him once and for all that she found every inch of him beautiful, under any conditions. She had begun by joining him in his after-workout shower, and they had discovered the fold-down seat was indeed strong enough to hold two. They eventually made it to bed, where she used first her hands, then her mouth, to burn a path over every inch of his body, including his stumps, where he had once told her the flesh was very sensitive. She lingered over every caress, until he was begging her to end the sweet torture. And when she finally did, when she let her eagerness overcome her shyness and took him in her mouth, he cried out her name in a voice she would never forget for the rest of her life.

  And the next time she had entwined their legs, he had merely sighed and tightened his arm around her.

  "Cassie?" he murmured now, his breath as he spoke stirring her hair.

  "Mmm?"

  "I love you."

  She smiled. He said it every now and then, out of the blue, for no apparent reason. But she thought she understood. It wasn't out of any desire to hear the words returned by her. And although she knew he meant it, and wanted her to know it, she had the feeling he said it as much for himself, as if he were still reveling in the newness of it. Still reveling in the miracle he'd once told her it was.

  She easily gave him the answer she'd learned he wanted, since it was the truth. "I know," she said softly. And as always, his arms tightened around her, as if to reassure himself she was there, so he could safely go to sleep.

 
And as his breathing slowed into steady regularity, she smiled into the darkness, remembering what he'd said.

  I'd lie awake in the dark, right before dawn, and wonder if I'd ever be glad to see morning again. If I'd ever really come out on the other side.

  He had. He'd come out into the morning light. He had changed so much already, and the process continued. Dar was blooming, and every day Cassie whispered a litany of thanks to the fates that had driven them together.

  Miracle, she thought as she snuggled against him, was an understatement.

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