by Eve R. Hart
After a moment, he came back with a warm, damp rag and cleaned me up. I think my eyes stayed closed the entire time.
I was nearly asleep by the time I felt him lift me so that he could cover me with the blankets. I was hardly aware of his body sliding in and curling around mine. And I barely heard the words he whispered in my ear after he kissed my temple.
“You are…”
I certainly remembered those words when I woke though. I smiled as my brain dragged them out of my orgasm-drunken state and replayed them for me. My body heated as I remembered the events that played out the hours before. I didn’t know how long I’d been out, nor did I care. I was waking with the man that pretty much owned my body, and he was completely wrapped around me. I didn’t want to move, I didn’t even want to breathe. So I didn’t.
I imagined that he had to be worn out. I would have bet that he hadn’t slept the entire time he was gone. I sure as hell wasn’t going to wake him. I mean, it wasn’t like I was hating the feeling of him against me even a little bit.
Was this love?
Or was I just so insane from the monumental orgasm he had given me?
I wanted to say yes to the first thing but there was that stupid rational part of my brain that had to go all naggy at the thought.
So, I decided to leave it unanswered for now and take advantage of his body next to mine. And let me just say, damn was it a body. I would have no problems touching it all the time. Or seeing it. Or being pressed against it. Or, hell, being under it, that was for sure.
-20-
I Am Home
Clean
As an adult, I never really got the meaning of home. Sure, growing up it was a two-story farmhouse style building with a barn out back and a few goats running around. The kitchen was where my mom loved to spend her time, and I wasn’t just saying that because she seemed to be in there most of the day. The mudroom was where my dad would always strip out of his boots and wood-chip coated coveralls. The room on the top floor that faced the front yard and gave me a clear shot into Cindy Taylor’s bedroom was filled with things that were mine. When I was a kid, home was more about the little things I saw every day but didn’t really notice. Like my baby shoes displayed on the downstairs mantel. Or the marks on the wall that crawled upward as the years went on. Home was the smells that floated through each room. Like the apple and cinnamon from the bowl of homemade potpourri on the back of the toilet. And the pancakes that my mom always made every Sunday morning.
As I lay there later, Lucy curled tightly into my side with her arm tossed over my stomach, I realized that home wasn’t necessarily about the place. It was about how you made it yours and the people you shared it with. I had the feeling of home the moment I was headed back to Lucy. While I may not have realized it right away, it sure as hell hit me the moment I walked into the front door. I couldn’t wait to get back and the thought of seeing her just made everything so much better.
Part of me tried to say that it was too soon to feel such a thing.
But that didn’t mean that I could fight the way I felt.
To be honest, I didn’t really want to.
Coming back, knowing she would be there waiting for me, somehow breathed a kind of warm life into me that I hadn’t realized I’d been lacking.
I ran my fingers through her silky hair from root to tip slowly. I wanted this moment to last. And more than that, I wanted ones just like this every single day. This was how I wanted to fall asleep and wake up, with her in my arms.
“That feels so good,” she mumbled and snuggled closer into my side. “Oh, wait!” She jerked back, her eyes wide with alertness. “Shower. Oh, God, shower. You have dead body-ness going on. I wasn’t thinking. Oh, it kind of ruins this whole thing.”
I couldn’t help it, I busted out with a deep, rumbling laugh that shook my entire body as well as the bed. So, she wasn’t wrong. That would have been super fucking nasty, but I’d also never do that to her, no matter how easily she could pull me in.
“I showered before I headed back. I was wearing clean clothes when I got back. I keep a spare set in my truck. There’s no…‘dead body-ness’ on me, I swear.”
“Oh,” she said looking a little embarrassed at her outburst. It was so adorable. Then she burrowed herself back into my side, her hand coming to rest over my heart. I couldn’t help but bring my hand up to cover hers. “That’s good.”
We were silent for a long time, both of us completely comfortable being wrapped up in one another.
“Alright,” I said after a while. “Let’s get up. I’m hungry and I’m sure I should feed you too. There is this cute Italian restaurant I want to take you to.”
I knew what I was doing. Though she hadn’t really come right out and said it, I had a feeling she liked the comfort and security of these walls a bit too much. I’d gotten the sense that she had isolated herself a lot over the years. While I wasn’t big on going out either, I figured I’d put that aside for her. It was time that she started living her life for herself. And I was going to give her a little push to change things. And of course, I’d be right there by her side through it all.
I felt her stiffen and I wrapped my arm around her tighter and gave her little hand a squeeze.
“Did you get your computer thing handled?” I asked knowing full well that she hadn’t.
“Um, no,” she said hesitantly.
“Come on, shower with me, then we can head out.” I wasn’t going to let her over think it. I was hoping if I kept things moving along then she wouldn’t get inside her head too much.
“Shower…together?”
“Yes,” I said sliding out of the bed and holding my hand out to her.
Her eyes went as wide as saucers as she did a slow scan of my naked body. Her breaths came out in pants and her creamy skin turned pink all over.
While I had no problem distracting her with the part of me that she was currently entranced with and drooling over, I wanted to take her out more. Sure, it would have been so easy to slip back into bed and slide back inside of her tight channel. Just thinking about it made me harder. Which wasn’t what I was going for right then. I was a damn grown man, I should have been able to control myself. But it was kind of hard when she was looking at it with such shock and longing. I imagined she was remembering it inside of her just as much as I was right now.
Focus, I yelled at myself in a scolding tone.
But I couldn’t. Because I’d never felt anything like that before. Not just the action of it all. There was more and I didn’t even think I could begin to describe it. It was intense and earth-shattering. It was life-altering and almost maddening. I lost myself in the moment. I didn’t think. I didn’t even have to try, but I felt it all. It was like she opened up for me and let me crawl into her soul. And I handed over my heart while I was in there.
Lucy had quickly become everything I craved and needed. And I hadn’t been blind to it.
“Luce,” I warned as she looked as though she was about to reach out and stroke me. I could see she was thinking about it. Her eyes were ablaze with need and lust. I was right there with her and I was trying my best to tramp that shit down. “Shower. Eat. Then I promise I will spend the rest of the night learning every single inch of you.” I spoke low as I bent over and scooped her up in my arms.
She let out a little yelp and then giggled all the way down the hall. There was something about the sound that caused a smile to split my face. She made me feel free. She made me feel happy. And she made me feel young. Which was odd because I was practically a damn old man.
We managed to shower without any funny business. It was hard to keep my hands off of her. And when I felt like I could no longer resist, I pulled her into my body and just held her, loving the way she seemed to just fit against me.
We dressed silently, her peeking up at me through her dark lashes and tossing tentative smiles my way. She was nervous. I could feel it yet I didn’t point it out. I was going to give her silent strength and not le
ave her side.
I guided her out of the front door and to the elevator. She squeezed my hand as we walked to my truck. The ride was short enough and when I helped her down, she didn’t hesitate to wrap herself around my side.
“Ah, Mr. Andreadis. What a lovely surprise,” Mr. Corsetti, the owner of the small restaurant said the moment we walked into the door. “Oh, and you have a guest.”
His smile was bright and reached his eyes like I’d just walked in with the best, unexpected surprise.
“It’s good to see you, Mr. Corsetti,” I replied reaching out to shake his hand. “I see all went well with the surgery.”
“Yes. Of course. My family, they worry over every little thing. My heart is just fine.”
I could tell he was downplaying it a little but I let it slide.
“Glad to hear it.”
“And who is this lovely lady? I must say, it makes an old man happy to see that he has someone to look after him.”
Lucy bit her lip and ducked her head. I saw the tinge of embarrassment hit her cheeks and I smiled.
“This is Lucy. Lucy, this is Mr. Corsetti. He makes the best fresh pasta I’ve ever had.”
They shook hands, then he led us to a booth in the back and left with a sly wink in my direction.
“This all looks so good,” she said as her eyes roamed over the entire menu.
“All of it is fresh. I’ve tried everything at least twice.”
“So that tells me that either you eat here a lot or that you have stayed in this town for a few years.” She eyed me like she was trying to figure out the answer.
I chuckled and relaxed back into the seat. I knew it was bugging her that she hadn’t been able to figure out anything about me. But what she didn’t know was that I’d tell her anything and everything she wanted, and I sensed that I would one day. That she would know every little thing there was to know about me. I prayed that I would get the same from her.
“I love the chicken parmigiana,” I said as cool as could be with a slight smirk playing on my lips.
“I think I’ll try the lasagna alla bolognese. That sounds amazing.” With that, she snapped her menu shut and set it down on the table in front of her.
The waiter came by, dropping off some fresh bread and two glasses of water before he took our drink order. I threw her a bit when I suggested that she have a glass of wine. She looked eager but unsure of which one to order. I chuckled and asked what her favorite was.
“Merlot,” she answered without hesitation.
I smiled and nodded, loving that I’d gotten a little tidbit about her. The young waiter suggested something once she told him what she was going to order for her meal. He said something about it pairing well. She just nodded, doing her best to keep eye contact with him so as not to seem rude. I decided to stick with the water.
Once our entire order was out of the way, I sat back and gave her my full attention.
She was beautiful. And even that felt like such a weak word to describe her. Stunning. Magnetic. Captivating. She was…perfect to me. It wasn’t just her outer beauty, though every time she peeked up at me through those thick, dark lashes, I felt my breath hitch and my heart pound faster. But there was so much more to her. I’d seen glimpses of how she could be. Little things here and there that made me want to dig further. That made me want that day to come when she felt so comfortable around me that she was her true self.
“I have five places,” I started and she leaned closer like she was about to hear the world’s biggest secret. “This one here. One in Florida. One in Louisiana, though I don’t spend much time there. A place up in Connecticut. And one in Michigan.”
Her eyes went wide as she took it all in.
“Are they all so…upscale like this one? I mean the building is, the decor you have going on isn’t so much.” She smiled as she teased me.
“Well, most of my places look like this one on the inside. I figured I never really stick around long at one given time, so I didn’t put much into them. But to answer your question, no, they are not. I have a house in the swamps in Florida. A three-bedroom colonial style house in Connecticut. They are all different. And before you ask, I don’t really have a favorite.” I tossed that last part in there because I could see the question sitting right there on the tip of her tongue. “They are just places, Luce. I haven’t really gotten attached to them, even with as long as I’ve owned them.”
“Oh, well that’s a little sad. It’s like you have all these homes but you don’t have a home. If that makes sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. And I couldn’t agree more. I had never really felt a reason to make any of them a home before.”
“Why?” she asked hanging onto my every word.
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly while I thought about the answer. It wasn’t that I was stalling, afraid to open up to her. Maybe I just didn’t really have an answer that wouldn’t frighten her away.
“Maybe I’ve been lonely. I never wanted to admit that out loud. But I never had anyone waiting for me to get back to somewhere before. It kind of changes things a little now. Like my perception of my place. It no longer seems like just somewhere for me to crash and eat. And maybe even put my feet up for a few days.”
“And now it feels different?”
Was that hope I heard in her voice. The thought brought a smile to my face.
“Yeah, sweetness,” I said looking her straight in the eye. “It does.”
That was the moment the waiter dropped off two piping hot plates to our table. Maybe it was a good thing he broke the intense moment, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to tell her how I felt at some point.
We dug in. I loved the way little moans escaped her every time she took a bite and her eyes practically rolled into the back of her head.
“Oh my God, this is so good,” she said after she savored a few bites.
“Here, try this,” I said as I cut her a piece of the perfectly tender chicken and held it out to her. She didn’t hesitate to wrap her luscious lips around my fork. It was sexy as hell and even more so because she wasn’t trying to be.
“Oh, wow. It’s so…” She leaned closer and practically whispered the next word as her face scrunched up in the cutest way. “Moist.”
“It is. So moist,” I said repeating the word. And there was that cringe again. I laughed, I couldn’t stop it. “Not a fan of the word?”
“No. It’s like ew every time.”
She got quiet on me for a long moment. I could tell there was something going on in her head and I desperately wanted to know what it was.
“Luce, talk to me,” I said reaching my hand across the table and tilting her chin so she would look at me.
“Okay, this is so embarrassing.” She took in a deep breath. “I’ve never been on, like, a date before.”
“Really? Well, I hope I’m making it memorable. If I’m not, let me know. I’ll try harder. I can come up with some good ideas.” I was trying to joke to put her at ease.
But if I really let myself think about it, I was honored to be the one sitting here with her. I was thrilled that I was the man to give her this first date experience. And let’s not even try and act like this wasn’t one. It definitely was, and that had been my thoughts behind it when I’d said I was taking her out. In my mind, it was the first because there would be many more.
“No,” she whispered and there were tears in her eyes. “It’s perfect, Derrick. Everything about you is perfect. And I know that sounds so weird and, God, clingy. I sound clingy. And crazy. I know. But I can’t help but feel like you are everything my soul has been waiting for. Oh, I’ve said too much.”
Her face was bright red and her bottom lip got caught between her teeth like she was trying to stop herself from talking.
“I feel the same way,” I said to ease her misery. “I know at some point we are going to have to figure out where to go from here. But I can tell you that I don’t want to let you go.”
“And I don’t want you to. Are we crazy?”
“I don’t think so. I think we were meant to find one another. I mean, we’ve been at this game for a long time now. Something was bound to break, don’t you think? Was I always just a job-type thing to you?”
“No,” she rushed to say.
“I thought about you,” I admitted before she could say anything else. “Not in a creepy sexual way. After a while, I found myself growing more curious about you. I wanted to know things. Hell, I just wanted to hear your true voice.”
“I thought about you too. And I knew you were curious. I could tell that you wanted to ask things for so long. Then when you did, I freaked out.” She shook her head at herself. “So, where do we go from here? I kind of…need to go back to my place and at least get some things. I have like no clothes.”
I put some cash in the billfold that the waiter had slyly dropped off a bit ago not wanting to interrupt our conversation. Or so I guessed.
“We get out of here,” I said as I stood and reached for her hand. Then I pulled her in tight to my body and put my lips next to her ear. “I take you home and kiss every inch of this sweet body.”
A shiver wracked her body and I smiled. We said our goodbyes to Mr. Corsetti because it would have been rude not to. He went as far as to tell Lucy he hoped to see her again. I sent him a smile telling him that he definitely would.
“Derrick,” she whispered out with a pant as we frantically shoved ourselves over the threshold to my place. We were already on each other, our lips tangled with desperate need.
“I got you, Luce,” I said as I picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.
Once there, I slowed it down. I savored every moment I had with her, removing her clothes one piece at a time until she was spread out naked for me in the middle of the bed. Then I kissed my way down her body, slowly. Her body shook. When I reached her knees, I parted her legs with ease. The moment my tongue darted out and got its first taste of her, she moaned and her back arched off of the bed.
I licked and sucked and nibbled until her legs were practically vibrating against my shoulders. Knowing she was teetering on the edge, I slipped a finger into her slick heat. That was all it took to have her unraveling for me and her legs locking in a death-grip around my head.
