Robin's Nest

by Melissa Stevens

  "When the officer said they knew who I was and they were there to get me out, I almost broke down. I was safe again." I fell silent for a moment, watching the lights of the city grow closer. "He started yelling at me as they put him in the squad car. Telling me, he knew I'd done this to him and he'd get even, but he's going back to prison. I'm not worried about him."

  "You were worried about me?"

  "Yeah. I know that if he came at you face to face, you could hold your own, even though he's a bit bigger than you are. I was worried that if he broke in while we were asleep, he could kill us both before we knew it, or torture us. The whole thing terrified me. I've just discovered what I have with you. I'm not willing to lose you so soon."

  "I was scared too." His voice shook. "When you called and I heard what was being said. I took a phone away from the nearest worker and used it to call Bruce. I relayed to him what I was hearing. We both scrambled to do everything we could, but in that moment, it was limited. When you called, they didn't even know he was missing.

  "I met Bruce at 3-way and got in with him, in his truck. I drove while he spent most of the trip on the radio and phone working out details. Between the Department of Corrections, the Highway Patrol, Greenlee and Graham counties, they discussed timing, locations, logistics and the psychology of the inmate with you.

  "Once they determined that the Oracle area would be the best place to make the capture, they contacted Pinal County for their co-operation. Bruce did all this from the road as we hauled ass to get here before you did."

  "Why both Greenlee and Graham Counties? They didn't have anything to do with it."

  "Greenlee because that's where Bruce is a deputy, Graham because that's where the escape took place."

  "All right," I said. "That makes sense." I was quiet for a moment. "When I was finally able to call you back, after we'd been stopped and they'd taken him away, you said you were there, in town waiting for me. Damn. I almost cried. But I didn't, I held it together knowing that I still had to go make my statement so I could get out of there."

  "Do you feel like crying?"

  "Not at the moment," I gave a halfhearted smile, "but the urge may return."

  "I'm here for you, baby, if you need it. Crying will probably make you feel better. It'll purge some of the stress and tormented emotions you've been bottling up all day.

  I didn't say anything, I just leaned over and set my head against his shoulder. He lifted his hand from my leg and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. We stayed like that until he needed both hands on the wheel as he pulled into the motel.

  33

  We ended up stopping in Catalina, only about a half hour outside of Oracle. We pulled into the Best Western there. I liked Best Western, as a rule the rates were decent and the rooms were clean. It would be a good place to spend the night. I was a little uneasy after my traumatic day, but I was sure that as long as Robin was with me I'd feel safe.

  By the time, we checked in and made it our room it was midnight, and I was exhausted. I'd spent more than nine hours driving, in addition to all the emotional stress, I find that even more draining.

  "You ready for bed?" Robin closed the door behind us.

  "I'd love to fall into bed and sleep for a week, but I have to shower first. I feel nasty." Actually, I felt like I needed to scrub any part of me that my captor might have touched, breathed on, or even thought about touching.

  When I came out of the bathroom, one towel wrapped around my body and a second wound around my hair. I found Robin had made himself comfortable. He was sitting on the bed, his back against the headboard his legs stretched out in front of him. He'd stripped down to his briefs and was flipping through the channels on the television while waited for me.

  I finished toweling my hair and detangled it with the brush I kept in my purse while watching him in the mirror. He hadn't noticed me, at least not that I could tell, he seemed absorbed in the TV as he kept flipping channels. Ugh. Channel flipping. I've never seen the draw, just as you get interested in something, boom, it's something new. Drives me crazy.

  My hair was still damp when I set down the brush and moved toward the TV, waiting for Robin to notice me. I was still wearing nothing more than the towel wrapped under my arms. I stopped in front of the screen, blocking his view, as I waited for him to look at me. I dropped the towel. The TV behind me clicked off as he thumbed the button and tossed the remote onto the table beside the bed without looking. He stayed where he was but held his arms open wide. I crawled up the foot of the bed, I snuggled up to him and let him hold me.

  After several minutes, I stretched up to kiss him. "Do you have any condoms with you?"

  "In my jeans. I've made it a habit to carry them, just in case, since we started needing them."

  "Good. Get one."

  "I didn't think you'd be in the mood." His voice was soft against my neck.

  "Me either, but I am. Hurry." I grinned and gave him a playful poke in the side.

  He grinned and quickly fetched the foil packet from his jeans, which he had draped over the arm of a chair.

  Coming back to me, he crawled across the far side of the bed and loomed over me on his hands and knees. He put the contraceptive on the table next to me before lowering his head give me a gentle kiss.

  I kissed him back, pouring all my desire and longing into the kiss.

  Robin ran his hand up the side of my body, over my hip and waist, along the side of my breast and up my neck until he could place his palm against my cheek and wrap his fingers around the side of my head. He continued to use his mouth to make love to mine. His touch was so tender, so gentle, so caring.

  I wrapped an arm around his neck and the other around his torso, my hand in the middle of his back as I pulled him down against me. I stopped only when I felt the entire length of his body against mine. The press of his skin against mine sent shivers through me.

  Each touch, caress, and movement inflamed my body and senses more. Robin slid his hands down my body, as though marveling at every inch of skin. I moved my hand on his back in small circles, moving slowly down his body, until my hand rested in the slight depression at the small of his back. Flattening my hand, I pulled him tighter against me as I ran the fingers of my other hand through his hair.

  I ran my thumb across the line of his jaw as we continued to lose ourselves in each other. I moved my hand up and down his neck, teasing the sensitive spot just behind his ear. I loved the feeling of his weight against me. I slid my feet up the bed, raising my knees on either side of Robin's body until I was able to push myself up against him, grinding my hips against his. The only thing between us was the thin cotton of his underwear.

  I ran my fingernails, gently up and down his back. Not hard enough to scratch him, just enough to sensitize his skin and send a shiver along his body. He moaned against my neck as he ran a line of kisses down to my shoulder. The pressure of his hands on my body turned insistent, almost urgent as he arched into my touch.

  I slid my hand down his back and into the waistband of his briefs, pushing them down as far as they would go. They stopped after just a couple inches, trapped between the fronts of our bodies. I kept pushing until he pulled away.

  "Off?" His voice was husky and deep.

  "Off."

  He sat back long enough to slip out of his underwear. I grabbed the foil packet from the table and ripped it open, then, sitting up, I unrolled the condom over him. I ran my hands up his chest, flicking his nipples once before crooking my finger at him and laying back.

  "Are you sure you're ready?" He slid his hand up my leg as he bent low over me. His hand cupped my sex for a moment before sliding one finger down to brush over my clit once as it slipped through the hot slick moisture waiting for him and sinking deep inside me. "I guess you are." His finger withdrew, only to slide back again. He worked it back and forth inside me for several strokes while his thumb made small circles against my clit.

  I closed my eyes and threw my head back, losing myself in the
growing pleasure.

  Suddenly, he pulled away. My eyes flew open and I watched as he lifted his hand to his mouth and licked his finger clean. "So sweet." He lowered his body over mine to kiss me once more. His tongue moved against mine in an erotic imitation of what I knew he would soon do with other parts of his body.

  In seconds, I was pressing myself against him with the same urgency I'd had before. This time, without the thin barrier of his briefs, it was somehow more intimate. I slid my hands up his back and gripped his shoulders from behind, pulling him down my body until the tip of him lined up with my entrance. I moved my hands down to grip the firm flesh of his ass, and pulled him back up, pulling him up my body. I gasped as he slid inside me. I closed my eyes and my back arched at the intense sensations of his body filling mine.

  Robin made love to me with a slow, gentle care. Every touch, every caress, not only showed me how much he cared, but also comforted me. He kissed me and whispered sweet things in my ear. He nipped at my ear lobes and took gentle bites along my neck and shoulders. My hands dug into his back as I pulled him closer. The feel of him against me became more urgent and I buried my face against his neck, as I got closer to that edge. He bent down and murmured in my ear. "I love you, Sammie."

  His words, and the swell in my chest that they caused, sent me over the edge into an orgasm so sudden and intense that I screamed and dug my fingers into his arms. I was barely aware of him stiffening above me as he yelled out his own release.

  ***

  We lay holding each other until we could breathe again, then Robin pulled away and disappeared into the bathroom. When he returned a couple moments later, he climbed into bed next to me, pulled the blankets up over us both, then drew me into his arms and held me close.

  Less than five minutes passed before my emotional dam broke. The tears started slowly, like the first leaks from a damaged levy, just quietly falling from my eyes. Within moments, I was shaking as I tried to hold in my sobs.

  Robin used the arm I was using as a pillow to roll me toward him, until my face was buried against his chest and he had both arms wrapped around me. He held me, but let me cry.

  "Just let it out, baby, then you'll feel better." He rubbed one hand up and down my back, soothing while letting the sensation assure me he was there for me.

  After what felt like forever, my tears passed and I snuggled closer against him and drifted off to asleep.

  34

  I woke late the next morning and eased out of bed, trying not to wake Robin. As I grabbed my clothes and slipped into the bathroom, I glanced at the clock. It surprised me to discover it was almost nine o'clock.

  A few minutes later I came out for my purse then headed back.

  "Is something wrong?" Robin's voice startled me.

  "It depends on how you look at it, but not really. I'll be right back." I closed the bathroom door.

  When I emerged after less than five minutes, dressed and with my hair pulled back into a ponytail, he was sitting on the foot of the bed, dressed and waiting. I moved to stand in front of him. "Well do you want the good news or the bad news?"

  "Bad news?" He paled.

  "Relax, it's not bad, really."

  "Just spit it out already."

  "I started."

  He looked confused.

  "My period."

  "Is that the good news or the bad?"

  "Both."

  He blinked a moment, clearly confused.

  "Good, because now we know for sure that our slip up a couple of weeks ago didn't get me pregnant." I turned away. "Bad, because I hate the cramps and moodiness that comes with it." I wasn't telling him that I was more than a little disappointed to discover I wasn't pregnant. The thought of having a small version of Robin running around had really grown on me over the last couple of weeks, until the idea left me aching to hold the child in my arms.

  "You scared me." Relief was apparent I his voice. "I was afraid there was something really wrong." He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back to him, burying his face against my belly.

  I curled my arms around his neck. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I was just being a smart ass, as usual."

  "It's okay. I had a moment of panic when you said bad news, it's no big deal. How are you feeling this morning?"

  "Refreshed, purged, and extremely well loved." I looked down at the top of his head. "I realize that bawling like that isn't the best reaction after great sex, but it was like the dam holding it all back just broke."

  Robin pulled his face away from where it was still pressed to my belly. He rested his chin against me as he looked up at my face. "I told you that I'd be there when you felt the need to cry. I knew it was coming. I'm happy you trust me enough to let me be there for you."

  "What would I do without you?" I bent down and quickly kissed him. "We need to get moving, it’s already going to be past noon before we get home."

  "I'm ready if you are."

  "Then let's check out and get started."

  "Are you hungry?"

  "A little bit, but not much, not yet. I thought we could start out, then eat in Tucson or Benson on our way through."

  "We can do that, but they have a complimentary breakfast here, if we haven't slept through it, so let's go down and see what they offer, if nothing else we can grab some coffee for the road."

  "Sounds good to me."

  35

  Less than an hour had passed before we go to Tucson, and I still wasn't hungry. I did talk Robin into stopping at an Eegees. It didn't take much to convince him, I just had to ask. We talked about it a little and decided to wait to eat until we filled the Jeep at The Thing. Yeah, I know, it's those chicken strips, I love them.

  As we left Tucson, I turned to Robin. "I was planning to go through the paper again today and put in more applications, but I guess that will have to wait, at least until tomorrow." I looked out the windshield for a minute. "What are your plans for this afternoon."

  "I'll need to check in with the farmhands, after I left so abruptly yesterday I have to make sure that everything got finished and that they started today's watering, but it shouldn't take too long. Do you want to do something tonight?"

  "Not really, just wondered what your plans are."

  We spent the rest of the trip home talking about our plans for the next few days. After a while, we fell into a comfortable silence. We listened to the radio and sang along to some of the songs. I was glad I didn't feel like I had to keep a running chatter with Robin. I was tired and somewhere along the way, I leaned against my window and dozed.

  ***

  By the time Robin got home that evening, I was restless.

  "How did your afternoon go?" I asked.

  "Good." He came closer and pulled me into his arms. "Everything got done as if I'd been here to direct it."

  "That's good." I laid my head against his chest. "What do you want for dinner?"

  "Tell me about your afternoon first."

  I scrunched my face. "Nothing much to tell. I talked to Sophia, picked up the house a little, that's about it."

  "Do you want to cook or would you rather go to the Cafe?"

  "The Cafe sounds good." It really did. I'd turned it down a couple of weeks ago, but I was feeling better now, plus, I hoped that all the uproar around my accident had died down enough we could eat with only a few interruptions.

  ***

  The Cafe may have had an official name once up on a time, but it had been simply the Cafe for as long as I could remember. We walked in, looked around, and chose an out of the way table. It wasn't a dark corner, but it was off to one side where, we hoped, there would be fewer interruptions.

  The waitress on duty was Brenda, who Robin and I, both, had known for years. She brought us menus and took our drink orders. She came back a few minutes later with our drinks and took our orders. I knew once Brenda took our menus away, people would start stopping at the table. There was something about small town manners that said it was acceptable to
stop and talk to anyone in a restaurant, but you had to wait until they had ordered.

  Miss Lizzie was the first to stop. "Samantha Davidson, how are you doing?" Miss Lizzie is Aunt Sophia's best friend and she had been for as long as I could remember.

  "I'm doing good, Miss Lizzie, though I'll be glad when all the drama dies down and it's just normal life again."

  "Well you know what they say, dearie. Big things come in threes and you've only had two so far." She patted my shoulder.

  "I know. I'm hoping that the third isn't the huge ordeal that the first two have been, knock on wood." I rapped my knuckles on the table in front of me. "Maybe number three will even be something fun. I can hope. It keeps my spirits up."

  "I'm so glad to see you home and safe, Sam. When Sophia told me what was going on yesterday, I about had a heart attack. Especially so soon after your accident."

  "Thank you for your concern." I smiled at her. "It means a lot to me."

  "How about you Robin, how are you doing?" She turned to him.

  "I'm all right. Would be great if we could just keep Sam here out of trouble." He was talking to her, but he shot me a wink.

  "Well, we all know that Sam and trouble are like peanut butter and chocolate, they just go so well together."

  "You've got that right." He grinned.

  "I'm glad you're both doing well. I'll let you get back to your evening, I just wanted to stop by and see how you're doing."

  "It was good to see you, Miss Lizzie." I gave her a hug.