Trouble Won't Wait

by Autumn Piper

  “You’re a pain in the ass, you know?” he says, before his so-right mouth covers mine. This is the first time he’s kissed me and I don’t feel guilty. The kiss is sweet and urgent, like my need for him. I’m sorely tempted to consummate our love right here in my living room, but Mike or Mark could barge in at any time.

  With great reluctance, I pull away. “I’ll just be… I’ll hurry.”

  He nods and I feel his gaze follow me down the hall.

  * * * *

  I’m showered and as lovely as I’m going to get. I’ve re-packed my bag of surprises, and I’m back in the living room with Adam.

  He’s been in the kitchen, because he tosses me the birth control pack I’d left on the counter. “Need these?”

  “Shit, I forgot it again!” The day is mostly over, and I haven’t taken the one for today yet. Judging by his silly grin, he’s already noticed Sunday is still in there. “I just got them a couple weeks ago. Mike got fixed after Rachel, so I’m not used to remembering. Maybe you can help.”

  “We could skip it.” His eyes tell me he very much wants another baby.

  I plan to give him one, as soon as propriety allows.

  “Yeah, good example for Rachel. Mom’s still divorcing Dad, and she’s pregnant by another man.”

  “Point taken. By the way, stick with novels. Your poetry sucks.” He points to my notebook on the floor near the couch.

  “Hey, I was under duress. Bite me.”

  “Still wish impotence on me?” Oops! “Ready to go?”

  “Let’s go make those pills necessary.”

  * * * *

  Adam gets us to his house in record time. His Christmas tree is still up, though Rascal has been wreaking havoc with it. Next to the tree is something tall, draped with a canvas cloth, and a big red bow cinched around it a little more than halfway up.

  “I have something for you.” His dimples flash. “Untie it.”

  It’s a sculpture, of a woman running. Of me. A sculpture of me! The tall thing in his studio, and now I see the shoe string I saw that day. I don’t even know what to say. Nobody’s ever spent that kind of time making me anything. It’s good, very good. I’m not sure I look this great when I’m running, but I appreciate the sentiment.

  “We were supposed to go away for the weekend,” he tells me. “I had a trip set up, snowmobiling to a cabin behind the property in Aspen. I called you a thousand times Friday. I told the house manager in Aspen to arrange it all that one night when we were on the phone.”

  “Adam. I’m really sorry. Really. God, I messed up so much. What if you hadn’t called me today?”

  “I would’ve been at your house, knocking down the door if I had to. I lasted as long as I could. Please promise not to leave me like that again.”

  “I promise. Remember how you wrote me about those three big words? You can say them now, but you better hurry if you wanta do it before I do.”

  He’s holding me, and the trembling I just felt is now a thundering in my heart.

  “Really?” he asks.

  I nod.

  “I love you. Always. I’m sorry I kept so much from you, and almost lost you because of it. But we’ll have forever to make up for it. I promise.”

  I’m shaking more, and it’s because I feel like crying again, but happy tears this time.

  “I love you too, Ferris. God, I love you so much. Come on, let me show you.”

  He picks me up as he kisses me. I wrap my legs around his middle while he carries me to his room.

  “Wait, there’s a CD. And lingerie,” I murmur against his neck.

  “Next time.” He’s in a rush, and I’m fine with that. We’ve waited long enough. On his bed, he’s kissing me all over, helping me off with my sweater, the one he loves. I have a fleeting memory of Mike and how good our lovemaking was, but this will be even better.

  When I’m in my bra and jeans, I wish we were in a darker room, knowing he’ll soon see the pale, slick streaks left on my tummy from my pregnancies.

  His shirt gets peeled away, and I forget all about my hang-ups, taking in his amazing chest and those arms, nearly the size of my legs. Adam lies on me, kissing me, and I feel like we could go on forever. God, he’s heavy. His weight feels fantastic on me. So right. I love the way he holds my head when we kiss. It feels like he can protect me from anything. His mouth moves down between my breasts, nuzzling and nipping. I arch with the sheer joy, the pleasure, the need to move forward.

  His doorbell is ringing. Insistently.

  My left nipple gets a, “Goddammit!” Adam goes on, ignoring it. The visitor, the intruder, begins pounding.

  I have to laugh. If I don’t, I’ll scream. God, we’ve waited so long, to be interrupted now?

  “Expecting company?”

  “Nobody ever comes here but you. And your kids.”

  Nonetheless, he’s getting up. I hope it’s not a woman at the door, because he’s going without his shirt, and he might just give a female a heart attack by opening the door with a body like his. I hear the door squeak open, and Rascal mews in distress as Adam scoops him up, foiling yet another attempted safari into the great outdoors.

  “Hi, you’re Adam Kraft, right?” Shit, it’s Mark!

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m Mark House.”

  “I know.” Nobody else looks like Mark.

  “You been seeing my sister.” He’s seein’ lots of me just now, Marko.

  “Somethin’ like that.” Adam sounds wary–Mark is formidable.

  “You got a girlfriend or somethin’?”

  Adam clears his throat nervously. “Not…no.”

  “I need you to come with me and straighten her out. She thinks you do, and–”

  “I think it’s under control.”

  “You don’t understand. She’s a human disaster right now.” Thanks, bro. Very complimentary. “I know she’s a stubborn pain in the ass, but I think she has a real thing for you. She burned her lousy husband and he’s out of the picture. I can get you in her house, and you can straighten her out.”

  “I don’t think that’s really necessary–”

  “It is if you want her to listen!” Mark is bent on throwing his considerable weight around to see his mission complete. “Look man, I saw how many times you been callin’ her.”

  Okay, this has gone far enough.

  “Mark?” I call. “He’s kinda busy now. Can you come back later?”

  It’s quiet at the door, other than Rascal mewing at Adam to let him go.

  “Oh. My bad. I’ll uh… Call me later, okay, Mandy? Sorry.”

  Ha! Mark: embarrassed and surprised. How awesome is that?

  I’m smiling when Adam returns, wiping his brow. I think he was afraid he was going to get his butt kicked for my being here. Or for my not being here. Either way, he’s relieved.

  “See, I told you he was harmless,” I joke.

  Adam looks less than convinced. “How’d you ‘burn’ Mike?”

  “I don’t wanta talk about him and ruin the mood. Now where were we?”

  Adam remembers exactly where we were. He spends a little time there, before he goes for my feet.

  “You’re askin’ for trouble,” I warn him as he deeply massages a heel.

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Flames of desire warm me everywhere. The foot thing is great, but I’m so ready for him to touch other places. I’m unbuttoning my own jeans to that end, when he takes over for me. A few more kisses, and he unzips them. When he shimmies them down my legs, he sighs. He sounds the way I felt when he exposed his chest. Now it’s time for his pants to go.

  I’m rewarded for my month-long wait with bikini briefs. I take the time to squeeze that steely butt, leaning against him on our knees. He pushes me back and lays on me again. Is there a better place in the world than under his weight? I can feel him hard against me, and it drives me wild.

  My hand threads between us and inside the top of his underwear to finally feel what I’ve been thinking of for so lo
ng. He’s hot and hard in my hand. His breathing is jagged against my hair. Together we push his last piece of clothing down his legs while I stroke him.

  I’m thinking of him now, sliding in my welcoming, needing body. I must have said it aloud, because he’s murmuring, “I know, I know.”

  Adam removes my bra, giving him full access to my breasts while I continue holding, rubbing. I wish I had the hands to touch every inch of his body at once. His mouth draws on a nipple, sending streaks of need ricocheting through me. He’s taken me to that place again, with only my body and his. I’m hot for him, desperate, mortally aroused. He’s the fix and I’m the addict. I’ll die if I don’t have him soon.

  My writhing under him has finally spurred him to move forward. A hot hand slides over my hip and tummy, tugging panty with it. I’m impatient for his touch, greedy. Now I wish he had more hands.

  He’s pushing the panties past my knees when he sees me, notices I’m hair-free. A purring moan, and his hand starts touching, feeling the smoothness, the slick state I’m in. His exploring drives me wild, teasing me past any rational thought.

  All I can get out is, “In me…”

  Adam knows, and first it’s a finger, then two. I buck against him, crying out for more. His tongue goes to work where I need it most, and I’m lost, shaken by my own pleasure. This orgasm, I know, is a preamble, an opening act to what I’ll feel when he’s inside me.

  I gasp for breath when he moves above me, preparing to enter. His full weight is on me again, and when he enters me, my world is complete. Adam fills a void in me, perfectly. We’re saturated with the pleasure of our ultimate togetherness, merely lying there, still.

  As he begins moving, I arch to meet him, noting, loving, the new feel of him inside of me. I’m crying out unintelligibly, lost in a sea of my own pleasure. His pace quickens; he’s nearly finished. The thought of him coming inside me makes my thoughts swirl. Hot fluid releases from me. I can feel the slickness now, and hear it. I’m here, with him, and nothing has ever been better. He touches my clitoris again, causing violent spasms to wrack me. I’m shuddering inside and out, thinking his name over and over, maybe calling it out.

  Tears are dripping past my ears as he shakes into me, panting what I think is my name, along with “God.”

  He’s kissing me again before his spasms or mine have completely receded. I’m pretty sure that was the best sex I’ve ever had, and he’s ready for more.

  * * * *

  Adam and I are lying on his bed, as tangled together as the garden hose after the kids have used it. Inside, I know my heart is every bit as tangled with his. There will be no undoing the knots now. He rubs my back slowly with his right hand, and my hands cup his face, while I wish for time to freeze, let us remain like this always.

  “Adam?”

  “Hmm?”

  We haven’t said much since we finished making love again. I didn’t know it was possible for my body to get so aroused–it hurt with want, mere minutes after such intense gratification.

  “If you’re not estranged from your family, why were you alone on Thanksgiving?”

  His answer is fast. Too fast. “I told you, because I was covering for one of my lead guys.”

  I’m still holding his face in my hands, and I kiss him, then nip his fibbing lip, and shake my head at him.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me,” I urge. More secrets. What’ll it be this time?

  He hesitates, then, “I was supposed to go to Denver to Brenda’s. My parents were there. That Wednesday, I just got a feeling. Something told me not to go, to stay here instead.” He’s looking at me, waiting for me to pooh-pooh his premonition.

  I smile at him before I offer my own confession. It only became clear to me while I was writing poetry, remembering.

  “The night I caught Mike with Lana? I went to the garage to get another drink. I never got the drink because I beat it back inside when I saw them together. But inside, I guzzled down the drink I’d left sitting on the counter, mostly full. I didn’t need a drink, but something made me go to the garage right then.”

  Divine intervention is the only explanation I can think of for this. “Aunt Clara said if the Lord sent me somebody I loved, it was for a reason. She’s as old as God. Maybe she has a direct line with him.” We half laugh at the idea, but I don’t doubt for a minute this was the reason Adam stayed home alone for Thanksgiving. “And Christmas? Did you know your sister was coming here?”

  “No. Our parents are in Germany. They wanted us to come, but I didn’t wanta leave you, in case you needed me.” This makes me feel guilty, but loved. “And Brenda decided she was too close to her due date to travel that far. She surprised me by showing up here.”

  “I heard she laughed at you for giving Ben the money back.”

  “She thinks everything I do is funny. Like this house. She thinks it’s tiny. ‘Quaint’ was her word. But I told her later why I gave the kids their money.”

  What does that mean?

  He says, “I came clean about stalking you, and our would-be affair.”

  “What does she think of it?”

  “She thinks I’m crazy for you, and wants us to get busy making cousins for her baby.”

  “And your parents? Will they be put off by my poor-ass roots?” It sounds like they’re incredibly wealthy, probably snobs like most Aspenites.

  “I think they gave up on me ever marrying again. Last time I saw them, Mom let me know she’d still love me if I was gay.”

  “Now that’s a good one!”

  Adam isn’t laughing as much as I am.

  “You wanta take pictures and email them, to put her mind at ease? Not those kind of pictures, pervert!”

  Now he’s the one laughing.

  After another bout of kissing, I have to know something. “Sooo.” I pause, gathering courage to face the possibility of an answer, spoken or not, that I don’t like. “Do you think of Laura when you look at me?”

  Adam’s eyes never waver from mine. “Not since the first time I heard you speak.”

  Whew! “Will you come with me to show Aunt Clara that I caught you?”

  “It was I who caught you, chased you down with my car, remember?”

  “Okay, whatever. Then I have to eat. I haven’t been with you in days, so–”

  “You haven’t been eating, again?”

  “Basically.” I’ll sound like a moron if I tell him I got sick every time I thought of losing him, but I still stayed away. That my body knew I was supposed to be with him, and I ignored it. “But I’m hungry now. Starved.”

  Chapter 19

  Aunt Clara is just sitting down to the third section of her sandwich when we arrive. I’ve warned Adam about the heat in her apartment, so he’s in a t-shirt.

  “Well, just look at you two. Been busy since lunch, have ya?” she asks, making no attempt to spare my acute embarrassment. “Looked like somethin’ the cat dragged in this mornin’.” A gnarled finger points at me.

  Adam is once again clued in as to how bad-off I was without him. He puts his arm around my shoulders and tells Clara, “I’ll see that she wakes up in better shape from here on out.” Fight fire with fire, baby.

  She grins mischievously at us, and makes me eat a Nutter Butter before I can leave. The lady must think those cookies are the base of the food pyramid. She’s a dietician’s nightmare.

  On the way back to Adam’s car, my cell rings. It’s a call from my house. “Hello.”

  “Hi.” It’s Mike, of course. “Just checkin’ you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, thanks. You?” This is a weird conversation, and doomed to get weirder.

  “Mandy, where are you? It’s late to be out walking. Do you need a ride?”

  “No, I’m with somebody. Thanks for asking.” Please let this go. Please let this go.

  Adam has figured out who it is, and is watching me expectantly. Expecting what, I can’t tell. We get in the Jag, while Mike pushes on.
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  “Okay, just wanted to make sure. But the Durango’s here.”

  “Mike, I know other people with cars. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

  I’m going way easy on him, and Adam scowls.

  “What time will you be back?”

  “Mike! I’m hanging up now.” I toss the phone in my purse in disgust.

  Adam is shaking his head. “You wanta go by there, get this over with?”

  “So then one day he hits the angry part of divorce, and he tells the kids Mom was sleeping with Mr. Treadmill before Dad moved out, and it’s her fault our family’s a shambles? No thanks.”

  “You must’ve been Catholic growing up.”

  “Why?”

  “You have massive quantities of guilt. What did you do to him, anyway?”

  I look out the window, trying to fight the self-reproach. I know what Mike did was worse, but I’m not acclimated to purposely hurting others, especially those I love. I guess I was caught up in being the injured spouse.

  “When I realized he was still sneaking around with Lana, while trying to win me back, I set out to prove it. Then I tricked him into believing I wanted to reconcile.”

  I’m not looking at Adam, but I can hear his breathing getting deeper, shorter. He still hasn’t started the Jag.

  “He broke it off with Lana Christmas Eve morning, because he thought we’d be together again. I followed him and Lana outside at Brad’s and recorded them arguing and her…trying to suck him back in.” Such an accurate description. “He turned her down cold, then came inside and in front of all our friends, gave me a huge ring and proposed again.”

  I have to look at Adam now, see what he thinks.

  He’s grinning. “And?”

  Deep breath. He’ll think I’m a cold bitch when he hears. “I exposed him and Lana, rejected his proposal, then gave him back our wedding band.”

  “So Lana got dumped, and then Mike did too. You broke his heart?”

  “Hard and fast.” It still feels good to know I managed it, though in my heart I know it was a vile, inhuman thing.

  “Was it sweet? Revenge?”

  “Bittersweet.” I shrug.

  “And you know it’ll hurt him more if he knows he’s already been replaced.”