by Amira Rain
Stretching out and putting my hands behind my head to give him a better view, I asked him if he liked what he saw.
Raking his gaze over my body from my head to my toes, he made a faint scoffing noise. “Do I like what I see? Like isn’t even close to being a strong enough word. Love, maybe, though even that doesn’t even come close. Your body is so gorgeous it’s like a work of art.”
It struck me as funny that I’d often thought of his body that way, and when it came to his body, it was definitely true. I was sure nearly all the women in Ridgewood and Timberline would agree with me that his long, lean, well-muscled body brought to mind ancient Greek statuary.
However, when it came to my own body, although I generally liked it, and even thought some parts of it were beautiful, I knew it wasn’t perfect. Yet, Jim seemed to think it was, which thrilled me to no end, and made me love him even more than I already did. It also made me feel like I could be a little less inhibited during our lovemaking than I might have been had I thought that he was not completely happy with my body. Knowing that he thought it was gorgeous, I felt like I never had to worry how I looked while we made love, or if I was doing anything that displayed any part of my body in a less-than-flattering way.
After brushing a tender, lingering kiss across my lips, Jim stood beside the bed and began undressing, starting with his boots and socks, and then moving on to his t-shirt. Even though I was very familiar with his bare chest, having seen it multiple times before by now, I still got a little thrill when he tossed his t-shirt aside. Bright sunlight was filtering through my bedroom curtains, filling the room with a golden glow, and this lighting also made Jim’s bare skin glow as well, highlighting every rippling muscle in his chest and washboard abs.
“Please... just let me run my hands across your chest before you take anything else off.”
Seeming glad to oblige me, Jim leaned over the bed and kissed me, cradling my head in one arm, while I ran my hands over the ridges of his hard chest, relishing the feel of so much muscle beneath my fingertips. Eventually, my fingers wandered a little lower, unbuttoning his jeans, and I broke our kiss in order to speak.
“Now please let me watch you take your jeans off.”
He did as I’d directed, slowly peeling them down, stepping out of them, and kicking them aside, and a quiet whimper escaped my mouth. Straining against the fabric of his boxer briefs, his manhood was clearly fully erect, the sight a perfect thing of beauty. In fact, I thought how I couldn’t have created a more perfect male member if I’d designed it myself.
Seeming to be keenly interested in my reaction, Jim kept his gaze on my face while he removed his boxer briefs and stepped out of them. For the second time in as many minutes, a whimper escaped my mouth, though this one was a bit louder than the first had been. A bit more desperate-sounding maybe. I was starting to want Jim intensely, urgently, feeling as if I wouldn’t be able to wait another minute. Fortunately, he didn’t make me.
After climbing into bed beside me, he took me in his arms and began kissing me passionately, plundering my mouth with his tongue. On my side, facing him, I hiked a leg up on his hip, wondering if we were in a viable lovemaking position. I was fairly sure it was, but I’d honestly never made love on my side before. However, I was eager to try it now.
Seeming to intuit my desire, Jim soon broke our kiss, positioned the head of his manhood at my slick entrance, and then slid inside of me with one long thrust that made me cry out with pleasure. I had a feeling I was going to love this new lovemaking position, and once Jim began thrusting, my thinking was confirmed. With him hitting some sensitive spot inside of me that I hadn’t even known I had, only a minute or two went by before I was moaning in rapture, a powerful orgasm crashing over me in rapid waves.
Still hungry for more, even immediately after, I told Jim I wanted to ride him, and he rolled onto his back, pulling me on top of him, seemingly very glad to oblige. Several minutes later, I experienced an even more powerful climax than my first, throwing my head back while rapidly bouncing on Jim’s thick pole, making him growl out with his own climax at the same time.
Afterward, we rested in embrace, both of us drifting off to sleep for a while.
When I awoke, it was nearly eleven, and I found the other side of the bed empty. Disappointed and thinking that Jim had left without even saying goodbye, I rolled over and curled up with the part of his blanket that still held his scent. However, within a few seconds, I realized that there was water running in the bathroom, and a minute or so later, Jim strolled into my bedroom with wet hair, and dressed only in a pair of boxer briefs. He’d been keeping clothes, a toothbrush, and a few other items at my cabin, and I’d been doing the same at his. I hoped that someday, we could share a cabin together.
After getting into bed beside me, he pulled me into his arms, grinning. “When I came through the doorway just now and saw you, with your hair fanned out on the pillow like that, and with a bit of sunshine on your face, I thought that you looked like an angel. But then you smiled, and I realized that you could never be an angel, because you’re far more beautiful than any angel on earth.”
I smiled right then, heart melting, but then something funny occurred to me. “I’d never want to be an angel anyway. At least not an Angel angel. Too evil. They cause too many problems.”
With his green eyes glinting gold in the sunlight, Jim smiled. “That is true.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Yes.”
Moving a hand to my head, he just smoothed my hair for a few moments, looking into my eyes, before speaking again. “I want to tell you something... something not about the events a few days ago, because I know you don’t want to talk about that, and that’s fine. The thing I want to tell you is more just a general thing.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“It’s that you don’t ever have to try to fight again, or serve as any kind of backup. I love you, Avery... very, very much, and I just want you to be at peace in your mind. I realize that considering the pain and grief I’m sure you’ve had to fight against since you were only eight years old, maybe you’ve done enough fighting to last you a lifetime. I’ll never ask you to do it again.”
I had to swallow a little lump in my throat before responding. “Thank you.”
Pulling me even closer to him, Jim brushed a tender kiss against my lips, and I kissed him back, so full of love and relief that my heart felt as if it might soar right out of my chest.
CHAPTER 17
Over the next week or so, I settled into a happy, peaceful, stress-free routine. It consisted of lots of painting, lots of tutoring Jen, and spending as much time as possible with Jim. I also worked several shifts at the bar, which I planned to do every week now that I was no longer attending training sessions. Even though Jim had said, specifically, that I didn’t have to try to fight or serve as backup for any fights, I’d taken that to mean that I also didn’t have to attend any training sessions, either, because of course, there was now absolutely zero point. So, I’d just stopped going, and he hadn’t said a word.
Honoring my request, not a single person in Timberline said anything about my failed attempt to serve as backup during the last fight with the Angels. I’d half-expected Jen to maybe bring it up just wanting to better understand what had happened, but she never did, to my great relief. Even Alexis just smiled and said hello when I saw her in the bar, just like nothing had ever happened, as if she hadn’t witnessed me running into the village in a state of near-hysteria.
At the beginning of the second week after that mortifying incident, I sat on my porch with a glass of iced tea, feeling as if everything ugly, and shameful, and embarrassing was all far behind me. So I’d unfortunately proven myself to be correct in my thinking that I wasn’t brave or strong. So what. Jim now seemed to be perfectly content with who I was, and as for myself, I was definitely settling into it. I wasn’t some kind of a superhero like all of the rest of the Gifteds seemed to be, but I was starting to think that was
just fine. I was happy just to be a superhero in my own very small ways, working bar shifts that no one else wanted to, and helping a sweet teenage girl become a better reader.
But even still, as okay as I felt about things, I couldn’t deny that there was a tiny part of me that would always be disappointed that I’d proven myself correct in my thinking. However, I figured this was a small price to pay for never having to fight or serve as backup again. I had a feeling that I wouldn’t survive another bravery failure in my lifetime.
When I was nearly finished with my iced tea, Jen came strolling up to the porch and had a seat beside me, chattering about something cute Marbles had done the day before. But then, after she’d told me all about it, she fell silent briefly before speaking again. “So Annie made me an ice cream cake and gave it to me last night after dinner.”
I’d been wondering when Annie was going to do some kind gesture toward Jen, like we’d talked about. I’d almost started to think that she’d decided to not even try.
Slowly rocking in my wicker porch rocker with warm sunshine bathing my face, I smiled at Jen. “Well, that was really nice of Annie to do that.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But, honestly...”
“‘Honestly’ what?”
“Well, honestly... I felt scared.”
“Why?”
“Just because the whole thing seemed weird, and I didn’t know what was happening. Annie just busted out with the cake after dinner, and she said, ‘This is for you. I made it for you.’ And for a second, I wondered if it was Christmas, because my birthday is on Christmas, and for that second that I wondered that, I felt like I’d fallen into some weird time warp or something, or like I just wasn’t understanding something. But then I said to myself, ‘No, it’s not Christmas; it’s April.’ And then I said to Annie, ‘Why did you do this?’ because she just doesn’t do random nice things for me. But then, before she could even answer, I had an idea, because Aaron was over for dinner, and I asked him if he was really the one who’d made the cake.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said no, that it was really Annie who’d made the cake. So I asked her again why she’d done it, and her face got red, and she said, ‘Because I just wanted to show you I care.’ And then I got really scared, because Annie just doesn’t say things like that, and I said, ‘Annie, are you sick?’ And she said no, and then I said, ‘Are you dying or something, and you’re trying to tell me goodbye or something?’ And she said, ‘Oh my God, let’s just eat the cake.’ So, we did. And then after, Aaron said, ‘She’s really not sick or dying, Jen. She really just wanted to show you that she cares. She just has a hard time expressing her caring sometimes.’ And then Annie said, ‘Oh my God, do you have to tell her all my personal business?’ And Aaron said, ‘Well, she is your sister, and I don’t think that your way of being emotionally reserved at times is any huge secret.’ And then they started having a little fight, so I took the rest of the cake in my room. But then I couldn’t finish the whole thing, and when I came back out to put the rest in the freezer, Annie was sitting on Aaron’s lap, and they weren’t fighting anymore; they were kissing. They looked up at me, and I didn’t really know what to say, so I just told Annie thanks for the cake. She said sure. I put the cake away, and then I went back in my room and watched a movie to get something normal into my brain, because the whole thing was, well, I still kind of don’t get what happened. Do you think Aaron was telling the truth when he said Annie’s not dying?”
Amused, but fighting like heck not to let any hint of that amusement cross my features, lest Jen think I was making fun of her, I nodded. “I’m sure Aaron was telling the truth. I’m sure Annie is just fine. To me, it sounds like she really just wanted to show you that she cares about you.”
“By randomly making me a cake, though? With really awesome sprinkles on the top that were all different shades of purple and pink? Oh, and you know what else is funny? A couple days ago, I saw a shopping list that Annie had wrote on a notepaper on the fridge, for the next time she goes into Ridgewood. And I looked at all of the words on it, and I could read some of them, and that made me feel so proud of myself that it actually made me feel like I wanted to write some shopping list things of my own with my new spelling skills. So, I wrote on the list candy, and pop, and dog snack bones, for Marbles. And then when Annie got home, she saw the list, and I thought she was gonna say something like, ‘Don’t scribble all over my list!’ or something like that. But instead, she just gave me a little smile, and she said, ‘You did a good job writing your items on the list. I’ll be sure to get them at the store.’ Isn’t that just so funny?”
While a few birds flitted from branch to branch on a birch sapling in my small front yard, I smiled, looking from them to Jen. “I think Annie is starting to realize what a great sister she has. It may feel funny whenever she does or says something to show she cares, but just try to show her that caring right back, and after a while, I think having a more caring sister relationship will feel completely normal.”
“Okay. I’ll do some caring stuff for Annie right back if you just promise me one little thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“I just want to be a flower girl or bridesmaid or something at you and Jim’s wedding. Can I be? If you promise me that I can be, I’ll promise to be ultra-nice to Annie.”
“Well, who said anything about me and Jim getting married?”
With a dramatic eye roll, Jen stood up from her chair. “Come on. I’ve known from the day I put you and Jim’s hands together to make you guys hold hands. And then the past couple days, everyone in the village has been saying all these different things about how all in love you guys look. So, will you say yes? That I can be in your wedding? I just want to be able to say that I was the first one invited to be a part of it.”
I smiled, shielding my eyes from the sun in order to look up at her. “Tell you what. If and when Jim and I get married, I promise you’ll be a big part of it. You can be a flower girl or a bridesmaid, whatever you like.”
After giving me a big grin, a hug, and saying thank you multiple times, Jen leaped off the porch, completely bypassing the three stairs, and continued on up the lane, whistling. I drank the last sip of my iced tea, hoping with all my heart that Jim and I getting married was not an if, but a when.
That evening, when Jim got home from patrol, he said something that made me think that us getting married was leaning toward the when side.
While we sat at his kitchen table, enjoying after-dinner drinks, whiskey for him, and a glass of wine for me, he reached across the table and took my hand. “Will you move in with me? I want to wake up next to you every morning, and go to bed with you in my arms every night, without having to shuttle between cabins.”
As much as I’d grown attached to my own cabin, I didn’t even hesitate before saying yes to his request. I was beginning to think that my home was wherever Jim was.
Feeling profoundly happy and at peace, I fell asleep in his arms, in his bed that night, not knowing that my new-found peace and happiness was very soon going to be threatened.
THE FINAL CHAPTER
It was about four in the afternoon the next day when several things happened, nearly at once. The first thing was that while Annie and I sat on my porch, having lemonade and cookies after spending several hours boxing up my things in preparation for my move to Jim’s, Jen came tearing up the lane, shrieking something about Marbles.
“Help! Someone!” Seeing Annie and me on the porch, she made a beeline for us. “My sweet boy! Guys, I lost my sweet boy!”
By the time she bounded up the porch steps, Annie and I were on our feet, and Annie asked her what was going on.
With her hands on her knees, Jen had to take in a few gulps of air before she was able to respond. “I lost my Marbles. I lost my Marbles, you guys!”
I prayed that Annie wouldn’t make some sort of a joke, probably something about Jen having “lost her marbles” a long time ago, but mercif
ully she didn’t. She just asked Jen to explain what had happened.
Straightening up, Jen took in a few more gasps of air. “He acted like he wanted to go out wandering by himself this morning, so I let him. You guys know he always comes back in a couple hours. But today, he wandered off around eight, and when he still wasn’t back around lunchtime, I went out looking for him, but he’s not anywhere in our favorite spots in all the different forest parts around here. He’s just gone. I’ve lost him. He must have just wandered off somewhere really far, and maybe he got hurt, or really mixed up in his directions or something, and now he can’t find his way back home.”
Knowing that Marbles sometimes liked to sit and beg for food from people eating outside on the porch at the bar, I started to ask Jen if she’d checked there, but before I even got a full word out, Annie gasped, her gaze on the lane. Jen and I whipped our faces toward the lane to look, and almost instantly, Jen wailed, a low, keening sound full of pure anguish.
Then, she sank to her knees, tears already streaming down her face. “No, God. No, no, no. God, please just make it so that my Marbles isn’t dead!”
Coming down the lane from the direction of the forest clearings, Aaron was striding fast, carrying something large, limp, and golden in his arms.
When he spotted us, he called out, his deep voice easily carrying across the distance. “Get Alexis! Hurry!”
Alexis had been a veterinary nurse before coming to live in Timberline.
Fast as lightning, Annie leapt off the porch and began running up the lane to get her. Fortunately, she and her husband lived just three cabins down from me. Also fortunately, Annie and I had just seen her heading to her house not ten minutes earlier.
Still on her knees, whimpering, Jen clutched at my arm. “Please help take me to my Marbles. My legs aren’t working right.”
Heart aching, I helped her up to her feet with an arm around her back, then helped her down to the lane, where we met Aaron.
