A Moment Forever

by Cat Gardiner

He wrapped his hand around the crystal highball glass, just bringing it to his mouth when she spoke with that particularly devilish voice of hers.

  “You have nice feet, Ducky.”

  He almost sprayed his cocktail. “I what?”

  “Your feet, they look like a perfect stairway climbing upward to those strong legs of yours. Each toe is symmetrical with the same amount of space between. No fooling, some people have a second toe that extends beyond the first and that’s truly cock-eyed, but not yours—they’re in perfect alignment.”

  Will removed his dog tags, laying them on the table and stood. He walked to the edge of the pool, letting his toes hang over the colorful Spanish tiling. “Is that so?”

  Towering above her, he folded his arms, tanned and feeling very masculine like Johnny Weissmuller in Tarzan. He laughed, as her eyes raked upward in a long appraising sweep from his apparently fine feet to his own appreciative smile.

  Lizzy grinned impishly, stretching her legs out behind her, kicking underwater. His naughty girl knew he would watch each exertion and muscle flex of her perfect bottom. The smile now turned to a full-blown grin, his roguish response at her obvious attempt to unhinge him; it was working. With the first few sips of his tequila sunrise and the sight of her shapely body, the fuddy duddy in him was officially vanquished.

  Saucily she replied, “Yes, I’ll have you know, I’ve made a keen study of toes, and yours by far are the most killer-diller. Just like the rest of you.”

  His eyes drank in each slow kick she performed, water against flesh, resistance against movement. That alone was bringing about a reaction to him. Of course, he knew she planned it that way.

  “You’re not so bad yourself, Pistol. I have noted your own feet looking especially …” He laughed, leaving her to finish his sentence.

  “Especially?”

  Diving over her into the pool, he promptly came up from the bottom with her foot captured in his hand. Pistol giggled from his tickles and squirmed to extract herself from his grasp. “Es—pecially,” she barely sputtered out between laughing gasps.

  “Suckable.” He covered her wet toes with his lips.

  She howled with mirth, squealing as his mouth sucked and licked her toes until he released her big toe with a pop. Both laughed raucously, and he grabbed her waist, pulling her toward him.

  He stood in the center of the pool with Lizzy clinging to him, her arms circling his neck as his hands cupped her bottom to keep her buoyant. “So, I’m killer-diller, huh?”

  “Yes, Ducky. You are utterly charming, simply irresistible.”

  “Are you going to tell me about my birthday surprise tomorrow or am I going to have to tickle you further until I can extract the information.”

  “Is that a war tactic? Something akin to a torture technique?”

  “Tickle the enemy? Now there’s an idea. ‘Surrender or I will tickle a confession out of you.’ Never mind my bomb load; my digits are deadly weapons.”

  She wiggled in his arms, splashing and laughing as his fingers traveled over her body. “Yes … they are! Okay, okay, uncle. I’ll tell you, but first I get a kiss.”

  “Oh, so you have a ransom demand? Will you hold back your information unless I comply with your command? I don’t think any enemy soldier will be offering me a kiss after I torture them.”

  Wrapping her legs around his waist, she beamed. “I’m not the enemy.”

  “No, you definitely are not. Deadly yes, but certainly not hostile.” His playfulness sobered to passionate expression as wet lips caressed hers in a slow, heart-stopping kiss. Even the cool water couldn’t contain his body’s reaction. “You’re perfect, Lizzy.”

  She pressed against him tighter, titillating him with the pressure of her hips against the hardness tenting his swim trunks. His girl said nothing, just smiled, then dropped her legs to the bottom of the pool. Taking his hand, she led him to the stairs, gaining two steps above him.

  Lizzy turned her head, glancing over her glistening shoulder and whispered, “Follow me, daddy.”

  Dripping, they emerged, walking hand in hand to the open French doors of the bedroom that she and Lillian had always shared.

  Will stopped suddenly, rigidly, before entering. His hand tightened around hers, forcing her to halt her eager gait and turn to face him full on. He released her delicate hand in the next moment.

  Lizzy furrowed her brow, focusing her eyes directly up at him. “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s … I have to tell you something, something about me. I know it’s an inopportune time but, it wouldn’t be right to … you know … if I wasn’t completely honest with you.”

  “There’s nothing you could say that would make a difference. I love you, Will.”

  He released a shallow breath then smiled pensively. “I should have told you sooner, but the time never seemed right, and I hope it doesn’t make a difference. I mean … um … Lizzy, I’m Jewish. My mother’s family, which means that my brother and I are Jews.”

  She rested her hand upon his cheek, smiled, then whispered. “I know. Now let’s make whoopee.”

  His Pistol cracked him up, and he laughed, amazed when she took his hand again, leading him through the doors. He felt better for his honesty, but how she already knew left him perplexed. Of course, not long enough to dwell on it at that moment. She didn’t care. She accepted him, and right now, that was all he needed or wanted to know.

  Although there were no servants in the house, Lizzy switched the radio on anyway. In unison with his thundering heart, Anne Shelton’s voice floated in the yellow room of elegant tropical furnishings. Without a doubt, he was nervous, his heartbeat increasing its cadence deep within his chest with every forward step he took. A large part of him, his ingrained sense of character, integrity, and propriety, thought they should wait until his return, until they were husband and wife. Call him traditional, or even a dud, but she deserved that respect.

  Lizzy walked into his embrace and it felt perfectly natural when they began slow rhythmic swaying to “Only Forever.” Her sparkling green eyes dilated to a deep hunter as she met his gaze, both gently held within one another’s arms. He kissed her, drawing his fingers through her wet locks.

  “Are you sure, Lizzy?”

  She nodded, kissing him back.

  Trying to alleviate the battling desires within, he couldn’t help joking. “Is this my birthday, present?”

  “No, silly. I’ll tell you about that afterward. You promised me a kiss.”

  “And then some.” He captured her lips again, his tongue exploring and playing with hers as their bodies slowly merged into harmonious attunement.

  His hand slid down her bare back exposed by the swimsuit, feeling the soft heated flesh that, in her passion, defied the cool water from which they had emerged only minutes before. Long fingers tucked below the elastic waistband of her bottoms where the cleft of that shapely backside taunted him until he withdrew his hand, entwining it with hers. Hand in hand, they walked to the foot of her narrow bed. She turned, smoothed her fingers down his bare chest, stopping over his taut nipple.

  Will couldn’t help emitting a guttural moan at the pleasurable assault, kissing her in reply and encouragement.

  Eager and aroused, he slid a strap to her swimsuit top down with one hand and pulled the tie behind her with the other, dropping the brassiere-like top to the floor. Intoxicating and radiant with the afternoon sun streaming through the doors upon her, those voluptuous breasts were nearly his undoing.

  He fought the urgent impulse that demanded a hurried, frantic coupling with the woman of his dreams, but he wanted more from this first time. He wanted her to have more. This was his opportunity to show her the violence of his love and the fervor of his pounding heart. This was the moment he could prove, through every thrilling, rushing pulse surging within, that she brought him to life. In that instant, with those glorious twisting lips playfully taunting him and her pink, pebbled nipples tempting him, he understood why she needed him now,
not in a year or two, but now.

  Eyes remained locked as they nervously removed their bottoms before one another in slow, awkward apprehension. He felt a little embarrassed, noting how her eyes reacted in wonderment and startling awareness when his swim trunks dropped to his feet, springing his arousal free. Her youthful innocence didn’t quell her immediate curious touch to his manhood. The feel of her soft hand stroking his swollen tip felt like nothing he had ever experienced. Sublime rapture met his normal reticent discomfiture, which faded as quickly as it came, leaving only the blissful feel of paradise as the woman he loved caressed him. Her thumb slowly gliding up the bulging vein of his shaft to the escaped droplet at his tip, nearly caused him to burst in her hand.

  She marveled, whispering in awe, “It’s so big. Bigger than I imagined it would be.”

  He couldn’t help smiling at his girl’s innocence, confirming the ethereal image she posed before him, unfazed by her nakedness and unaware of just how enticing she was. Soft and shapely, her narrow waist and creamy curves delighted his flesh when his hand glided over her damp body. Mind, touch, and sight memorized every inch of her perfection. He’d never forget this moment. Lizzy was an angelic, seductress, enchantress and vixen all in one. He was spellbound by the powerful hold she had upon his entire being and the gentle hold she had on his manhood.

  Her quizzical hand continued to explore, feeling every part of his arousal, eager fingers following the same circuit as his when they brushed through her pubis. When Lizzy’s mellifluous voice moaned with rasps at his brazen touch to her sex, he guided her down to the satin-covered bed where his hand continued to explore and tenderly bring about sultry mews and shallow pants, her evident gratified confirmation of his inexperienced lovemaking.

  Their kisses grew, her touch becoming emboldened when she caressed his scrotum, causing his heart almost to explode in parity with his erection.

  “Oh G-d, Lizzy. Wait, wait, baby. Slow down.”

  “I can’t.” She draped her leg over his hip, opening herself up to him. “I can’t wait. I need you so. I feel this urgency coursing through me. It’s making me wacky, the fluttering, the intensity from your touch is driving me toward bursting. I … I can’t slow down. I need it—I need you.”

  Lizzy trembled in his arms, their bodies lying side by side, as he brushed the plane of her cheek with his thumb. “I feel it, too. I love you so much.”

  “I feel the same. I’ll always love you.”

  From cheek to neck, his hand traveled downward, savoring each silken slope of her body, smoothing down around the curving fullness of her breast, sliding over the indentation of her waist up onto her hip. He asked her a second time, “Are you sure you want to do this, baby?”

  His girl nodded with certainty.

  Dropping suckling kisses to her neck, his mouth branded the flesh his hand vacated. Wandering suckles tasted her décolletage until his lips surrounded a swollen nipple, enveloping her arousal, the capture of this tantalizing pinnacle an added aphrodisiac to him. It was an effort to keep from spilling on her hip when flicks of his tongue teased her tautness, setting her to writhing below him. Circling swirls around her delectable berry encouraged hungry suckles and nibbles, her pants deepening in response, her cries escalating.

  His long finger gingerly entered her tight virgin passage where wetness confirmed just how ready Lizzy was for him. Slow, smooth glides in and out reveled in the slickness, as his mouth and tongue plundered hers in unison. Their consuming lips never separating for more than split seconds.

  Small whimpers of ecstasy escaped when the arching of Lizzy’s back met every gentle plunge of his finger until she cried out in frenzied writhing, spreading her legs wider for him.

  “Will … please.”

  He felt it, too, that need to be in her, joining them as one, claiming her as his forever. Settling atop her eager body, their hands entwined as he positioned himself. A bead of perspiration formed on his brow in nervous anxiety, wanting her so badly, hoping he could please her, yet fearful of hurting her. His tip brushed against her apex, beckoning him by the feel of her slick heat.

  Bestowing tender kisses to her swollen lips, Lizzy became his as he entered her slowly, feeling her body stiffen beneath his. Only part way inside the most perfect place he’d ever find himself, heaven clenched tightly around his shaft. Momentarily motionless, he consumed the pained grimace from her mouth with his own.

  Their rapid breaths commingled in heated puffs of passion when he said, “Do you want me to stop? Does it hurt?”

  Her whisper against his lips, “Don’t stop,” was all he needed to hear. Filling her completely, he broke her maidenhood with a piercing thrust, their cries overpowering the radio until, as one, their stillness grew to gentle movements, building in intensity.

  Lizzy never spoke of the pain of his penetration, instead she moaned in pleasured reward with every delving descent he made until her body trembled and quivered below him and her sheath tightened around him. That was a feeling he’d never forget. Her soft, yielding warmth enveloping and clenching around his hot, rigid flesh for the very first time was pure ecstasy, and he knew it was because she loved him as fiercely as he loved her.

  His rhythm and pace grew with her meeting each thunderous thrust until stars collided. Scorching, white heat sent them both shooting through the heavens into a shuddering, blissful climax. Will burst, both crying out the other’s name as he gave his forever girl all of himself—his love, his seed, and his soul.

  Collapsing upon her, Will’s spent body clung to her, and she wrapped him in her long legs. He buried his face in her neck, depositing kiss after kiss, his heart slamming against hers, their breaths labored. The feeling of her hand threading through his wet locks where she played with the short strands, calmed the frenetic pace.

  “When … when can we do it again?” She panted with labored breath.

  He was lost in her sparkling eyes, so filled with passion and happiness. She grinned naughtily, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Will chuckled, sliding from her, rolling to his side. Unwilling to sever their connection, he couldn’t keep from caressing her as his hand traveled over her flat tummy up to her bosom. His fingers began their second pleasurable assault on her aroused peaks, his shaft already growing in response.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “Yes, but I read in a book that it’s to be expected, along with some blood.” She looked at his johnson, as did he, and she flippantly stated, “I guess the book was correct.”

  “Book? I thought Yeats was your preference and here I discover you’re reading about sex. That is some library on wheels you’ve collected.”

  Lizzy rolled to her side, her hand caressing his slick, swelling tip as she spoke.

  “Oh, yes it is. You’d be surprised by some of the books I get, none of which are suitable for you GIs. Did you know there are something like sixty-four different ways we can do this? I saw pictures in another book.”

  He kissed her grinning lips. “You’re incorrigible.”

  “I know.” She draped a leg on his hip again, her hand now sliding up and down his already throbbing erection. “Do you think we’ll be able to try all the positions before I leave on Monday?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll give it my best shot.”

  The salacious thought of loving Lizzy again made his pulse race, his manhood strain stiff with immediate need to be entrenched in her hot softness again. He didn’t realize that it could happen that quickly, but then again, this was Lizzy. Yes, sex with his Pistol was heaven on earth. Gone were the thoughts of waiting for marriage, summarily replaced by how perfect this was, at this time, with the only girl he’d be with for the rest of his life.

  This time she rolled him on his back with a lingering, deep kiss, shocking him when she straddled his torso. She leaned down to continue the kiss with her hair falling in disarray around them.

  Coming up for air, Will asked with a teasing raised eyebrow as she slid down on his erection. “Wha
t’s the name of this book? I think I may need to read it.”

  “The Kama Sutra.”

  ~~*~~

  Their afternoon of loving one another as husband and wife was followed by domestic tranquility when Will cooked dinner for Lizzy in Rosebriar’s impressive kitchen. Three times the size of his mother’s domestic haven of Dutch warmth and productivity, this kitchen embodied the cold sterility of an operating room—or a German assembly line, and there was no evidence of the ration here.

  The radio played in the background as he stood at the stove, wearing the seasonal housekeeper’s frilly apron over his uniform trousers and white tank undershirt. The entire scene felt natural and perfect, a feeling he wanted to hold onto forever. He decided then and there over a frying pan of eggs that he would ask for Lizzy’s hand as soon as he returned home from the war.

  From her perch in the breakfast nook, she bit her lip, attempting but unable to suppress her devilish grin.

  After lowering the flame below the eggs, Will turned and folded his arms across his chest, leaning against the tile countertop. “I’m going to break you of that habit, you know.”

  “Which habit is that? The one in which I can’t stop admiring my flyboy or the one that wants to ‘do it’ morning, noon, and night?”

  “Neither. The one where you bite that beautiful lip of yours.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  “With kisses. As many as it takes. What’s going through that mind of yours?”

  “I was just thinking of the surprise you’re going to get tomorrow on your birthday.”

  He approached her in the breakfast nook and smoothed the wavy tendrils framing her face. She looked so lovely wearing a pale peach dressing gown even if it was only seven in the evening. “Ah … that’s right. You never did tell me. I suppose my tactics failed in the end.”

  “Oh Ducky, I assure you, your tactics were very effective. Do you really want to know your birthday surprise?

  As if an overeager youth, he nodded before bolting back to the stove to turn off the eggs. Lizzy rose and came to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle. She toyed with the ruffle on the apron as he assembled the traditional Dutch breakfast his mother made every morning.