“How long ago was that?”
“Couple years.”
“So you should be ecstatic, after tonight he won’t be touching her again.”
“Yeah, after tonight,” the words were delivered short and clipped. I was not helping his irritation, I might even have been adding to it.
“You’ll have a real marriage now.”
He turned to stare at me, eyes wide, jaw completely unhinged. “Yeeahh! And how’s that going to go? I’ll be the daddy to two kids and one on the way mind you, all or none of which may be mine. She’s always had help at home, one or the other of us was always there, now it’ll just be me, and she’ll be on her own a lot. I’m going to have to buy him out of half of everything we own, so there goes the savings account, and I’m not even sure I’m the one she truly wants. What if she really loves him, but thinks the kids are mine. What if he’s better in bed and she misses that? What if she finds out that one man doesn’t do it for her and she starts lookin’ for another?”
“She hasn’t told you that she loves you?”
“Hell, no! All she’s said is that one of us has to go and she told Jasper it had to be him. I mean, I do agree that it’s better for the kids and all, and I really do not want him touchin’ her anymore, but hell, he’s touchin’ her now ain’t he? What kind of love is that?”
I took a deep breath. This was clearly out of my realm as confidant, comforter, and counselor.
“Nothing about your relationship has been typical. Things just don’t fall into the usual slots, so maybe you should just take it one day at a time. Be cordial, leave the door open for family ties and see Jasper off the best way you can. Then see how it goes. No marriage comes with a guarantee. And they don’t all start with love either. And those that do, don’t always end with it.”
“You been married?”
“Ummm, technically, I still am.”
“What happened there? Seems like you got it all together, how come it ended?”
“He wasn’t who I thought he was, either that, or he changed and became someone I didn’t like anymore.”
“You got kids?”
“No, and that makes it easier to step back and undo it all because there’s no one else to think about except yourself. You don’t have that option, and neither does Jasper or Jodi.”
“Yeah.”
We had walked the entire loop and were almost back to the road in front of our sites. He looked up and smiled over at me, “Thanks for the wine and the talk.”
“You’re welcome. I wish you the best, I really do—all of you. And about her loving you, have you told her that you love her?”
“Hmmm, not in so many words.”
“Gentlemen usually wait for ladies, but in this case the lady rarely goes first, if my romance novels are anything to go by. I suspect her feelings for you are stronger than her feelings for Jasper, not that she might not have strong feelings for both of you, mind you.”
“Why do you say that?”
“There must be a reason she chose you over Jasper. All other things being even, that’s the only one I can come up with. Ask her.”
He quirked a tiny smile over at me and then grinned broadly, “Okay, I will!”
We turned the last bend and there was Jasper, bag in hand loading it into the trunk of a taxi.
“Looks like it’s up to you how this is going to end.”
“Yeah, I get to be the noble one. While his handprints are all over my wife, I have to be the one to shake his hand.”
“Remember, until just a few moments ago, by tacit agreement, she was his wife, too. You’re very lucky he’s giving her up without more of a fight because I’m sure he loves her every bit as much as you do. His heart is breaking and his whole life is changing. You can make it harder or you can make it easier, it’s up to you.” I walked off the path and took a diagonal across my site to get to the door of my RV.
Calvin stood with one hand in his pocket, the other dangling the wine bottle. Then he walked over and set it on the picnic table. Squaring his shoulders, he walked over to Jasper. He offered him his hand and then when Jasper hesitantly took it, Calvin pulled him close and held him tight. I saw him whisper a few words in his ear and then pat him on the back. From where I stood, both sets of eyes were misty with tears. I looked over at Jodi, standing in the door of the RV, one baby on her hip, the other holding her leg. She was crying too, and it just about broke my heart. Who would have thought I would be so upset about a woman choosing between two men?
I unlocked my RV and went inside. Dawn was coming and although I usually loved to see the sunrise, this time I kind of wanted the solitude of being in my camper all alone. I could hardly believe it, less than eight hours ago I was lonely, now I just needed to curl into myself and let go of other peoples’ problems for a while. My heart hurt, and I just couldn’t imagine how Jasper’s was hurting now.
I walked down the hallway to my bedroom and jumped back two feet, banging my head on the wall when I saw a man in jeans and cowboy boots sleeping in my bed!
Chapter Twenty-three
His back was to me, but the noise of me bouncing off the wall woke him with a start. Before he was able to roll over, I recognized him by his ass. No one filled out a pair of jeans quite like Brick.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“How’d you get in?”
“Who cares? Get in this bed with me.”
I walked over and sat on the side close to his hip. He smiled up at me and with a barely-there touch, tucked a strand of hair that had come loose from my ponytail behind my ear. “Hi beautiful. I sure have missed you.” His thumb caressed my ear and then his hand went around my head, and he pulled me down for a kiss that involved only lips, soft, gentle lips that began a slow reacquainting process. “Mmmm, missed this, too.”
A strong hand ran from my shoulder to my back, and before I knew it, I was on my back with Brick beside me doing wonderful things with his pelvis against my side. He slowly worked his way over my body until he was centered over me. His prodding manhood was engaged in a frontal assault, focused on the target between my legs. As he moved up and down sliding his erection into the notch between my thighs, I heard myself moan. My hands found their way around him and as my fingers stroked the thick hair at his nape, my hips lifted to accommodate his wanton thrusts. My blood warmed while my head grew light with a giddiness I hadn’t felt in years. God, I was horny, really horny!
“Mmmm, you feel good,” he murmured as his lips left mine to trail down my throat. I closed my eyes for a second, as if by doing so I could physically separate myself from what he was doing to my senses. It was crux time, did I want to do this, because if not, now was the time I needed to let him know. He had swollen to a thickness that was telling me, with each new thrust against me, that soon there would be no turning back. He was unbelievably hard.
Yes, a voice inside my head whispered, yes, I did want this. But only this, only his body entering mine. No humiliating costumes or toys, no role-playing, no acting like an innocent being degradingly ravished. Just us, Brick and I, skin to skin, exploring and pleasuring and savoring each other’s response.
My hands ran down his back until I could cup his buttocks and pull him hard against me, causing my mons to rub along his enormously swollen and hard ridge. As if by its own volition, one of my hands released his ass, and grappled to get between us where it clamped onto him and squeezed. He gasped and air hissed between his teeth, as a long sigh fluttered against my neck.
“Are you protected?” he panted as his lips slid up my neck and captured my lips. A deep tongue-lashing kept me from answering as his hands went under me and gripped my ass checks tight. A few hard tugs had me thrusting to meet his erection and my legs lifting to climb his hips. I joined his frenzied tongue with mine and I felt the ridge of him press against my straining, swelling vulva. Arching off the bed, my legs circling his hips and using them for support, I met his steely shaft with my very aroused and delightfully engorged
nubbin. It was all she wrote. I came with such strong contractions I knew he could feel them through both his jeans and my lounging pants. Mere seconds later, I felt him jerk, spasm, and then cuss.
It seemed that contraception of any kind would be unnecessary. Neither of us said anything, when a few moments later he lifted off of me and pulled the pocket door closed to give him privacy in the bathroom.
When he came back a few minutes later, I was falling in and out of a dreamy, relaxed sleep. He moved me over, shifted me so he could bring up the covers and climbed in behind me pulling me close. I don’t know how I could tell, as I still had all my clothes on, but I knew that he was naked. I tucked my hands under my cheek as I lay on my side away from him, smiling. How sexy was that? He’d lost control when he’d felt me coming against him. Sweet.
“So where were you?” his gravely voice rose like a fog in the dark. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, but even so, I knew what he was talking about.
I told him about Jasper, Calvin and Jodi, and how their mutual marriage had ended.
“You sure can pick ‘em. I only get the novice tuba player next door, occasionally accompanied by a howling dog.”
“You just don’t have my knack for zeroing in on odd balls.”
He kissed the back of my neck. “It takes one to know one.”
“Are you saying I’m odd?”
“Oh no! Let’s see, in less than three days you’ve befriended a pedophile, managed to have two professors arrested, given a man amnesia, caused another to be nearly bitten to death, adopted a tailless lizard, and been a confidant to a love triangle. That’s not odd, not at all.”
“Hmph. I’m going back to sleep. And Connor’s not a pedophile.”
“You do that. When you’re asleep, it’s the only time I can get any rest.” He nuzzled my ear and kissed my temple.
I smiled and spooned back against him, wiggling my butt into his pelvis. His “Mmmm,” of approval was all I remember before nodding off again.
Chapter Twenty-four
I was awakened by the sound of the kids playing next door, some game that involved shouting and making noises like airplanes. I shifted and looked over my shoulder, verifying what my fanny was already telling me—there was no one in bed beside me. I took a moment to stretch before I put my feet over the side and realized my head felt funny. While I slept, or during the event that had immediately preceded it, my ponytail had slipped to the side and was weighing down one side of my head. I reached up and removed the elastic and then rubbed the spot against my scalp where it had tugged all night. I hated it when I did that and I was roughly digging into my scalp when I heard Brick’s voice yelling close to the outside of my bedroom window, “Catch it! Catch it! C’mon, reach!”
I shook my head and stood looking down at myself. Well, I didn’t need to dress to go see what was going on outside. I managed to wash my face and brush my teeth before my curiosity got the better of me.
As I passed through the kitchen I saw Brick had made coffee and even left a mug out for me. I filled the cup and went to see what he was up to.
He was throwing a balsa airplane, with a rubber band wound tightly around it up into the air, and the kids next door were running to catch it while all three made airplane sounds—chugging and petering out sounds when they couldn’t get to it in time and it crashed into the grass. Jodi was sitting at my picnic table looking fresh and lovely, a can of Pepsi in one hand and a donut in the other. I couldn’t help but notice her eyes following Brick’s movements instead of her kids’.
She looked up as I closed the door and the step retreated. I had forgotten to lock it in place again. I gave her a, “stupid me” smile, and re-opened the door to push the button on the side control panel. The step swung back out and locked in place.
“Hi,” she called over in a soft, embarrassed voice. I’d caught her looking and she had to know I knew everything that went on last night between her and Jasper and Calvin. She must be thinking that I was thinking that she was insatiable. I was.
“Hi!” I called, putting more into it than I felt. I looked around but didn’t see Calvin, so she supplied the explanation.
“Calvin went off to work today, even though it’s Jasper’s day to work. I guess everyday will be Calvin’s day now.” She sent me a sideways smile that was two parts chagrin, one part pleasure. She had what she wanted; now she just had to accept all the changes it would bring to her, the children, and to Calvin. Her eyes were puffy from what had obviously been a sleepless night and her lips were evidence that she’d most likely had a fair amount of make-up sex with Calvin after the break-up sex she’d had with Jasper. I couldn’t help but mentally shake my head. The scrapes women managed to get themselves into.
Thoughts of Jared came to mind and I wondered if he was still in a state of amnesia, completely unmindful of the wife who was running away from him.
I watched Brick play with the kids, admiring his physique and ease of movement as he agilely caught errant throws, several times saving the doomed plane from splintering against rocks and trees. It was a quiet morning in the park as everyone in the immediate vicinity who’d been privy to the disruptions of the night—from both the owl and the lovers’ quarrel—were taking the opportunity to sleep in.
I sipped my coffee and let my mind wander back to my bed and to the moment when Brick had given me such sweet innocent pleasure by simply pressing his body into mine. Apparently I’d pleasured him, too—when he hadn’t exactly been ready for it. And I hadn’t had to wear a tacky costume, nipple clips, or a schoolgirl uniform to do it, I thought with satisfaction.
A car door slamming on the gravel road a few sites away shook me out of my reverie. Brick must have tensed too because the kids stopped in their tracks and mirrored his movements. With hands poised in the air, all three had turned their bodies to the sound. The kids were probably anticipating one of their dads. Brick, his eyes focused on the black sedan, gave a slight nod to the man in dark sunglasses standing beside the car. It was obvious that he had been expecting his arrival.
He stooped, gathered the kids to him, whispered a few things in each one’s ear, and placed the balsa airplane in the older child’s upraised hands. Then he stood and his eyes met mine. I knew what it meant. He had to leave.
He walked over to where I sat and pulled me to my feet by my elbows, then he lead me over to the door of the RV and opened it for me.
Once inside, standing in the kitchen, he pulled me to him and placed his chin on top of my head. I hugged him around the waist as he softly rocked me back and forth. “I have to go. They need me to testify against a fifty-four-year old man who tried to abduct a thirteen-year-old girl he’d met on line, namely me. I’m glad I was able to make this detour though. It was wonderful seeing you. And I’m sorry about last night.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind.”
“It was nice. And perfect for where we are right now.”
“You never did answer my question.”
“What was that?”
“Are you protected, are you using birth control?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m on the pill, have been for years.”
“Good to know,” he whispered as he tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes. “Good to know.” His face lowered and his lips covered mine as he lazily meshed his lips with mine. It wasn’t a searing kiss as some of his others had been, and it wasn’t particularly passionate, but it was thorough, soft and warm and full of promise. I knew he was lingering as long as he dared before separating. He chucked my chin, “I promise to do better next time. Believe it or not, I really do want to be inside you for the finale one of these days.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” I whispered to his back as he went down the steps and out the door. I watched through the kitchen window as he strode across the lawn and met the man waiting at the car. Brick thrust his hand out and they shook perfunctorily, then Brick slid into the passenger seat as the
other man, who obviously was another agent, got behind the wheel and drove off.
Chapter Twenty-five
As I cleaned up the mess from breakfast, I decided it was time to move on, again. I’d stayed a few days longer than originally planned and I was itching to get back on the road. Besides, I didn’t really want to be here when Calvin got home this evening.
I didn’t want to see Jodi sad, but then, I didn’t want to see her happy either. Not right away at least, not when Jasper was out there somewhere looking for a job and a place to live, and being completely miserable. Jodi and Calvin needed to be alone without any outside interference so they could get things ironed out between them and make their new family work. The less people who knew about their previous situation the better, I reasoned.
I packed up before stowing the lines because I did not want to be talked out of this. I was ready to continue with my journey—destination Tucson, where I would pick up an adorable little puppy that I would soon deliver to Angelina in Austin.
As I predicted, as soon as it became evident that I was pulling out, Jodi came running out of her trailer. “Are you leaving?” she hollered, clear disappointment in her voice as she ran over to where I was crouched, my head bent under a “basement” door, my gloved hands coiling hoses.
“Yeah, I should be getting back on the road. I have to meet that lady in Arizona and get that dog before somebody else gets him.”
“Well, I sure will miss you! You’re been a real good friend.”
I stood and looked at her and at the distress I saw in her eyes. I had just finished with the sewer hook ups, so I pulled off my disposable gloves and tossed them in the trash bag at my feet. I gripped her by the shoulders and forced her to look into my eyes.
“I know you’re lonely now. You’ve been used to having someone around all the time, but you’ll get used to it. It’ll be fun, especially once the kids go off to school.” There was no way this woman was going to pass the test to home school, of that I was certain. “Once you get the breakfast dishes put away and the laundry started, you can watch the talk shows and the game shows, sit at the pool without having to be distracted by the kids and go shopping. You’ll see, it won’t be so bad.”
Running Up the Score Page 11
