Indulgence

by Liz Crowe

  The comment about being faithful struck a chord with me; my body tensed like a rattlesnake ready to strike. Hank smoothed his hands up and down my bare back, comforting me into submission. My body was a traitor, starved for his touch.

  “Then what happened?” I asked. Walking down memory lane was painful. I wanted to cover the wound with a Band-Aid and let it heal.

  “I came home one weekend and she was cryin’ something awful. Took me hours to get her to stop long enough to tell me what was wrong. I figured her mama must’ve died or something the way she was carrying on. Someone did die, but it wasn’t her mama.” Hank took a deep breath and licked his lips. “She finally admitted that she was pregnant. Well, she had been. She found out she was six weeks pregnant with my child, and then she killed it. She killed my baby. I never even knew I was gonna be a daddy before she took away my rights. She never gave me the chance to talk about it. Make the decision. She made the wrong one. I’d never kill my own flesh and blood.”

  “Oh my God, Hank. I’m sorry.” I looked up and tears were in his eyes and leaked down the side of his face. I rolled on top of him, straddling his huge body, and kissed away his tears. His boxers and my panties were the only thing separating me from him. He kept talking.

  “She’d had an abortion, and said she did it because she thought I wouldn’t want to be a daddy. That I would leave her a single mother back home while I lived my fancy college-boy lifestyle in another city. It was my fault. If I had been there for her, nicer maybe, not so selfish, she’d never have done it. My child would be just over ten years old now.”

  The guilt poured off Hank in waves. The man believed he was to blame for such a monumental decision made by the Country Cunt.

  “Hank, no, no.” I kissed every crease, every tear, every line on his beautiful face. “Shhhh … it’s not your fault. You didn’t know. You can’t blame yourself when she didn’t come to you. She should have come to you. It wasn’t a decision she should have made alone.”

  He sniffed and composed himself, wiping his tears on his forearm. I leaned up and caressed his face. “So you broke it off with her?” He needed to finish this for good.

  His voice cracked when he replied. “Yeah, I just couldn’t forgive her. I still don’t. You see, Angel, my feelings for her are rife with pain, guilt, and regret. That night at my folks’ ranch, she begged me to take her back. Start over.” I tried to slide off his body. “No you don’t. We face this shit together,” he said with more conviction than I felt at the moment. He held me fast before I could escape.

  “I was there, Hank. I heard what she said. I came looking for you and was on the other side of the wagon.” Tears filled my eyes. “You asked her if she wanted you back, she said yes, and then you kissed her! I heard you kissing her, Hank!” My body fell forward onto his, my face hiding in the crook of his neck while I sobbed. “How could you?”

  His arms tightened around me. “Now, you’re going to listen to me and listen good. I didn’t offer to get back together with her. You heard me wrong. I was shocked by the fact that she wanted to get back together. Then before I could stop her, she kissed me. She kissed me! And you obviously didn’t hear everything. Did you hear the part about where I told her I loved you, wanted to be with you?”

  What is he talking about? That’s not what I heard. I shook my head. “I couldn’t bear to hear any more after I heard you two kissing. I ran.”

  His arms banded around me and he kissed my temples with feather light presses of soft lips. “You should have stayed for the fireworks, Angel. I told her off but good. Explained that you and I were in love, and that she and I were over forever.”

  I pulled back to search his face. Ready to beg, to plead for the truth. It was all there in his honey green eyes. The truth that I almost lost. He loved me. Only me. His hands cupped both sides of my face, his thumbs slid across my cheeks to wipe away the last of my tears. This was it. I would shed no more tears about Hank’s past.

  “Come here, Angel.” He pulled me atop his wide chest and hugged me tightly. It was the warmest place and had the power to soothe my ravaged mind and heart. “It’s only ever gonna be us from here on out. I promise.”

  “But what about your business, about your ranch? You love your home and you know I can’t leave AIR Bright, Hank. Nor would I want to.”

  “I do love my ranch, and I do love my home, but I love you more. I’ve worked it out with three investors. You know Jackson, he was in your meeting today. Then one of Dean’s rich friends, and the architect Alex Benson has a company; his firm invested in my company, too. And you know that small office you have on the twelfth floor of AIR Bright?”

  I grinned. “Oliver pulled some strings to ensure I got the place without having to go through the rigmarole or get on the waiting list. He also gave it to me for ninety days rent free to make sure I’d confirmed that you were in this with me for the long haul.” He smiled a full-teeth smile and I melted. When Hank smiled the whole world smiled back.

  “Oh, I’m in it for the long haul, Stud.” I wiggled my center against his hips.

  His hands crept down to my backside and squeezed. I could feel his length hardening through the thin cotton of his boxers.

  “Is that so? Does that mean if some young, strapping, incredibly good-lookin’ cowboy from Texas were to, say, proposition you for the ultimate long haul, you reckon’ you might be willing to agree?” His face was smiling but I could see the nerves.

  “Are you asking what I think you’re asking, Stud?” I sat up, his hardening length a steel rod between my thighs.

  He held my bum with one hand and leaned over the edge of the bed and pulled at his jeans. He fingered a navy blue box. My breath caught, eyes focused on that tiny square of velvet he casually turned around and around in his large hand. A barrage of worry slammed through my thoughts like a wrecking ball.

  Did I want to get married?

  Was I ready to get married?

  What would my parents think?

  What would his parents think after I bailed a month ago?

  Thought after thought broke into glimmering pieces throughout the vast void surrounding us and my heart started to pound, I clutched at it.

  “Breathe, Angel. Jesus Christ! It’s not what you think!”

  My eyes sought his and burned a hole through those sparkling green eyes. “What do you mean it’s not what I think?”

  “Darlin’ I think my intention is clear. There ain’t no way you’re gettin’ rid of the likes of me. Therefore, I brought this to give to you.” He opened the velvet box and it was empty. There was no ring. I pinched the bridge of my nose and grabbed for the box.

  “Okay, what’s this for?” I turned it over. The blue velvet was dark as night and just as pretty.

  He grinned wide. “That’s the box you’re gonna use when you put a ring in it and ask me to marry you right proper,” he said. He cocked his head to the side and used his thumbs to circle the bare skin on each side of my underwear.

  “You’re gonna catch flies if you keep that mouth open any longer, Darlin’.”

  “I cannot believe you, Hank!” She tipped her head back and howled with laughter. Her breasts shook enticingly with her efforts. I leaned up and took one pale pink tip into the warmth of my mouth. She tasted delicious. Her laughter turned into a deep moan as she gripped the back of my head to her breast and pushed against my mouth. I lavished the nipple with long strokes of my tongue, then swirled a figure eight around and around the tight peak. She mewled like a baby kitten as I suckled at her tip.

  Gripping her breast’s twin I provided the other breast with the same treatment. She ground her pussy against my aching cock sending a river of lust through my body. I pulled away and looked up at her sexy body and face. She was more than beautiful, she was my dream. My dream come true. “So, I’ll move my stuff in tomorrow, then,” I confirmed around a mouthful of luscious Aspen flesh.

  “Uh huh. Yeah, that’s so good,” she groaned. I flicked the tip and bit down
. Her legs tightened around my waist and pressed against my dick, gaining the much desired friction she was after.

  I flipped her over on her back, pulled down her tiny red panties and spread her legs open. The hood of her little nub was pulled back and the tight little knot of heaven peeked out, waiting for my touch. Her puckered little hole winked open and closed as she gyrated her hips in the air ready for me to take her. I licked my lips and prepared to feast on an Angel.

  “I just want to be clear. I’m movin’ in. We’re officially together for good. I’ve moved my business. We’re keeping the ranch as our home away from home, and I get to fuck you every night for the rest of my days.”

  She panted as I twirled a finger just around the edge of her pleasure center. She squirmed and tilted her hips up trying to get the pressure she needed but I held it just out of reach. “Deal, Angel?”

  “Yes, Hank. You, me, everything you said.” Her breath came in heaving pants as if she’d run a marathon. I flicked the bud aching to be touched. “God, Hank. Please fuck me!” she begged.

  “My pleasure, Angel. All my pleasure.” I held my girl’s legs open wide, then covered her aching clit with my mouth and sucked. The corresponding scream into orgasm ripped through her. She tried to close her legs, but I was ruthless. I wanted it all. Everything she had to give was going to be mine. Everything I was belonged to her now and I’d take no less in return.

  In the morning I woke to the most blessed sight. An Angel was sprawled across my chest snoring lightly. Little puffs of air whooshed out of her bowed, full lips in a lulling cadence. It was good to be home. The past month without Aspen was pure torture. Every minute that passed when I didn’t know what she was doing, who she was with, if she was happy or not, gutted me. I’d finally gotten my girl back, and I was never letting her go. My arms tightened around her.

  “Hey Stud, you squeeze any tighter and I won’t be able to breathe,” she whispered, her chin rested on my chest. Those gray-blue eyes an open window to the beauty that lay just beyond.

  “Sorry. Good mornin’, Angel. Sleep well?”

  She kissed my peck over my scar a few times and grinned. Man I missed this. When she finished her worship of “her spot” she rested her cheek on my chest and snuggled in. “God, Hank. I don’t want to ever go another night without sleeping next to you.”

  “It’s a good thing you don’t have to … unless of course you wait too long to pop the question. You see, Darlin’, I’m what you call a catch,” She bit the thick hunk of muscle just over my nipple. “Ouch, okay okay! I’m sorry.”

  “Were you serious last night?” she asked, her hair a tumble of gold over her face. I swept the pieces covering her eyes away to see those blues once more.

  “About what part?”

  “You’re really not going to ask me?”

  “Nope. I’m not. I want you today, tomorrow, and every day after that. I’ve laid it all out there, Darlin’. I’m not scared. I know you’re it for me. In order for us to work for good, you have to be convinced of that as well.”

  Her gaze scanned across the room and into space. She nodded. “So then what do you want to do today?”

  “You mean aside from holding you hostage while I ravish you?”

  She laughed. “Well yes, after that.”

  “I want to take you out. I have a surprise planned.” My not-so-secret smirk was fully displayed.

  After a blessed morning spent reacquainting our bodies with one another, we arrived at the location. I made her wear a blindfold as the limo drove us. I led her out of the car and the faint sounds of the carousel music could be heard even at the entrance. The smell of cotton candy was sugary sweet as it filled the air while we exited the limo. It reminded me of being at the local fair back home. I pulled off the blindfold and she gasped. “Coney Island? You brought me to Coney Island? Hank, you are such a goof!”

  “I may be a goof, but you, Darlin’, need to learn how to let loose and have fun!”

  The first order of business was the Wonder Wheel. “Have you ever been to Coney Island?” I asked her as we boarded the huge contraption. It took us up and away with a perfect view over the beach and ocean.

  She smiled and seemed to think back to a time long ago. Her face got this dreamy quality and her smile grew as she pondered the question. “Yeah, back when I was a kid, Dad snuck us. Mom didn’t want us seen at amusement parks. She thought they were low rent.” Her lips pinched together into a scowl. “Dad was big on showing us how the other half lived so we appreciated what we had. Mom thought that was ludicrous and a waste of time.” She shrugged her shoulders.

  After the Ferris wheel, we moved on to the Cyclone. It was an old-school wooden roller coaster that sped through its curlicues and giant humps as fast as a whip. Aspen screamed and dug her nails into my pant leg at each dip.

  We moved onto the games. I was dead set on winning my Angel the biggest prize I could muster. I popped balloons with darts, shot water into a clown’s mouth, fished with magnets, even knocked over bowling pins with a softball, but still couldn’t get the big prize. She had an armful of stuffed animals, including a frog, a chicken, a bear, even a snake. But I was determined to get her the big dog. The mother of all prizes. The stuffed tiger. It would be mine.

  Finally, after an endless battle with the strong man I struck gold. The strong man was no match for me. Plus, it added to my desire to prove my strength after the surgery. Of course, I didn’t use the wounded shoulder, but overall it had the wanted affect. She was fawning over the giant tiger, kissing me, kissing its stuffed face then kissing me some more. I was in hog heaven.

  We walked with my right hand tucked in the back pocket of her skinny jeans. Lord only knew why she referred to them as such. She had a slight body with curves in all the right places. Weren’t all jeans considered skinny jeans on someone who was her size? Women’s clothing just didn’t make sense.

  “Hank, this has been the best day,” she beamed. Before I could respond, she was rushing over to a booth covered in navy blue curtains with white stars imprinted on them. The sign boasted “Fortune Teller” in fancy cursive lettering. “Let’s do it!” She practically jumped up and down with excitement. I couldn’t deny a purdy little thing like her.

  “Whatever you wish. And I bet she says that, too!” I added as she tugged me into the dark space. We were ushered through to a woman who sat at a round table with a crystal ball dead center of the space. She had a candy apple red scarf around her long black hair and bright lipstick on to match. She had flowing glittery clothes on and long purple nails. She gave me the creeps. She cocked her head to the side.

  “You,” she pointed a long purple-nail-tipped finger at me. “You’re a nonbeliever. You sit over there!” She pointed to a chair off to the side. Apparently I wasn’t going to get a reading today. Better be half price then.

  She ushered Aspen to sit in front of her. She held her hands and petted the inside of her palm with one of those long nails. Made me shiver. It was weird that she didn’t ask what service she wanted, nor did she offer payment information up front. She was probably a swindler. She was going to charge us out the ass after the services were rendered and we’d have no choice but to pay. I was about to speak when she pointed one of those fingers at me again.

  “Don’t speak.” I held my tongue only because she was wicked strange and had my girl’s hand in hers. Aspen seemed completely taken with the odd woman.

  “Angel,” she whispered and Aspen gasped. “Your true love will call you that. It’s important somehow.”

  I tried to think back to whether or not I’d addressed her since we entered. I knew I hadn’t.

  “You have a lot to offer the world. Not only are you smart, you’re creative and you do well in business. Better than most I’d say, looking at how long your success line is here.” She continued to inspect Aspen’s hand. “See this line? It’s your life line. You will live a long, happy life.”

  She started to cluck her tongue. “Ah, but you see you
r Line of Heart, it has some breaks in it. You will or have had a couple heartbreaks already. But there is one, the one of your true love, it breaks for a short distance here, then comes back and follows you to the end of your days.” She smiles. “You must hold out for your true love. You’ll know it, Angel,” she whispered.

  Aspen nodded and smiled, risking a quick peek in my direction. Her shy smile was as sweet as the molasses I put on my biscuit in the mornings.

  The gypsy fortune teller continued. Shared some additional, surprisingly accurate information that even had me believing in her psychic ability for half a second. She talked about a man in her life who was destined to walk alongside her but was not her true love or her lover. Just a kindred spirit. She suggested that Aspen never forsake that relationship because it would get her through important milestones throughout her life. The things that her true love was unable to comprehend.

  As we were leaving, the woman grabbed Aspen’s arm and turned her around. She smiled widely. “Your aura, it’s white and sparkling. Congratulations are in order. If not now, then soon.” The woman hugged Aspen tight. “Come back, pretty Angel, but leave the nonbeliever at home next time.” She glared at me.

  I handed the woman a couple twenties and she tucked them into her bra. “Goodbye, Hank,” she said and turned on her heel and left.

  “How did you know my name?” I called to her but she continued walking and waved her hand over her shoulder. We were clearly dismissed.

  “That was incredible, Hank. You should have had an open mind.” Aspen pouted but hugged her giant tiger. Best money spent on that tiger, not the psychic. At least she could cuddle up to it and remember me.

  “I don’t believe in all that hocus pocus.”

  “She called me Angel. She knew your name. And she knew some pretty crazy stuff about my life. You know what she told me?”